Return of the Orange Couches
by NenyaVilyaNenya
Summary: McKay encounters something alltoofamiliar, the team’s underwater mission investigating the ocean floor goes bizarre in more ways than one...and Atlantis has its own problems. Sequel to Phantom Thoughts.
1. Mischief

**Summary:** McKay encounters something all-too-familiar, the team's underwater mission goes bizarre in more ways than one, and Atlantis has its own problems. _Phantom Thoughts_ sequel. That should be read for background information, but I can't force you.

**Placement:** Season 2, between _Trinity_ and _Instinct_

**Spoliers:** General for Season2

**Rating:** Teen

**Disclaimer:** All things SGA canon are not mine, I like to borrow them, this plot is mine however.

* * *

**Return of the Orange Couches**

**By NenyaVilyaNenya**

**aka Vilya**

**Chapter 1**_-Mischief_

Rodney was once again down in the main lab, hunkered over a small piece of Ancient technology recovered from a freshly explored part of the city. It was fairly late at night for most of the population of Atlantis, but not for McKay. He relished working when the other scientists had left for the day to do normal things at normal times, like sleep when it's dark. Radek had been the last one to leave and attempted to get him to also since 'He wouldn't be any worth to them sleep-deprived.'

This particular little piece of Ancient technology had decided it didn't like Rodney's not-so-natural gene and was giving him a hard time. But he was determined on getting it to work. It was pear-shaped, sort of a reddish color, and cool to the touch. He didn't look up as a figure appeared at the door, but he knew who it was.

"Colonel, just the man I was hoping would come bother me at ten o'clock at night. Or in your lingo, 2200 hours." Holding the device out, head bowed, and writing notes down, he continued, "Activate this."

John's face stiffened and he crossed his arms, "No way in hell, Rodney. Remember the last little bit of tech I touched for you?"

Rodney finally looked up and drew the stubborn piece of tech closer to him, "That was a one time occurrence. How was I supposed to know that a little square purple box would emit a shockwave that caused your hair to fall out? Besides that was what, over a month ago?"

When it happened, the hardest thing for Rodney not to do was laugh. The Colonel was standing pretty much where he was now, rubbing the top of his head, watching chunks of hair fall out in horror. You would have thought a Wraith had his hand on his chest and was sucking him dry.

After the initial alarm had passed and John had been deemed healthy by Beckett, Rodney had commented between bouts of laughter that he looked like a hairless cat. He went on to say how creepy those cats were and how Lt. Col. Sheppard looked exactly like one. The man didn't even have eyebrows for a couple weeks. By now, most of it had grown back, but it had yet to reach the old floppy just-got-out-of-bed look.

"I don't care. You weren't the one who had to walk around bald." He walked closer, standing right across the table from McKay.

"Still hung up on it, _Colonel_?" For the weeks afterward, Rodney expected to walk into his quarters and find a P90 pointed at him. But that had never happened; fortunately killing for his vanity wasn't on John's list of 'Things to do in the Pegasus Galaxy.' He avoided McKay like the plague for two weeks, except on the missions, but the banter was gone for awhile. He had also worn an Air Force issue baseball cap wherever he went.

"I am not hung up on it. There are better things to do than stay fixated on the most humiliating experience of my adult life." He stood with his hands in his pockets, the tone is his voice was not sincere though.

Rodney snarked, "Yes, yes. I am very sorry for causing you soo much pain." It was only hair after all, no actually harm had been done. "Now here, just take this." He waved the device in front of John's face, causing him to take a step back.

"You can't make me. Besides, you have had the handy little gene for way over a year now, you make it work."

"What do you think I've been doing for the last couple of hours? Some things require a certain more powerful version of the gene, _yours_."

"I am not touching that damn thing. I came here to see how you've been treating those poor new recruits who arrived today."

"I put them through the typical probie routine. 'No, don't touch that, you'll blow the city up in a million little pieces!' 'Everything I say goes, do you understand me?' It can be exhilarating, you should try it sometime."

"That is why I'm thankful I'm not one of your geeks. Being under the command of a mad scientist is not one of my fantasies."

Rodney glared at him, he had an experience with a mad scientist before, Garin Trelio, someone he did not want to be compared to. He even had the scars to prove it - one on his left side, the other on his right calf. Add those to the one on his arm, courtesy of a certain Genii, one would think McKay was actually in the Air Force, not working with them. Scientists don't expect to get battle scars. The week long stay in the infirmary had healed him physically enough to be released all those months ago, and it took a few in depth discussions with Kate Heightmeyer/Elana Trelio after that, along with a few from John, Radek, and Elizabeth to get past what had happened.

Not long after that, they found the stasis-Elizabeth, had another incident with Kolya, and discovered they had two weeks before the Wraith attacked. That hadn't left much time to reflect on the occurrences of the first year in the Pegasus Galaxy. After the first return visit to Earth, things hadn't slowed down either.

John saw his look and corrected himself, "Brilliant scientist."

Rodney chose to ignore the obvious slip about being a mad scientist, "It doesn't hurt one bit that your fantasies lack my presence. Though I'm sure most of the Expedition's female component is stung by them not being a part, along with a few of the other men. Anyway, how are your new probies?"

"For one, I don't call them probies. I'm not in the fire-fighting business; I'm in the let's-make-sure-the-geeks-don't-get-themselves-shot business."

"It makes perfect sense though, probie, probationary, that is after all what all these fresh off the Daedalus people are, on probationary status until we decide they can stay." Except Kavanagh, who knows what that man did to get there, but Rodney can't get rid of him. He has brought up countless reasons to send him back to Earth, and when that didn't work, he considered pushing him off the highest balcony, but Radek convinced him to just resort to driving the man mentally off the edge by countless pranks. Still hasn't worked.

"Of all the things to pick up from your American uncle, you pick up a Fire House term." John also really thought that must have been where his secret inner bravery came from.

"That was my mother's side of the family. FDNY through and through." He swore at himself for letting the Maj…err Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel steer him away from the original subject, he thought he must be getting tired. He waved the device in front of him again, "Just take the thing!"

John didn't move at all, "No. It is late, Rodney. I'm going to bed." He turned and left with a smirk Rodney didn't catch.

"And which one would that be?" John didn't hear him, that or he ignored it.

After continuing on the device for a few minutes, Rodney decided that sleep did sound good. He put the frustrating piece of Ancient technology down, doubtful that it would be of any sort of use anyway, and left the lab. The halls were all but empty now, the only people being the ones on the night shift. Rodney snickered silently at the people who traveled across a galaxy only to be put on the eventless night shift.

He exited the transporter at the end of the hall and walked to his quarters' door. It slid open and he walked in, expecting to see the usual front room with a desk in the corner, a coffee table, and an overstuffed chair, all that he needed. His bedroom was just beyond that room, with its own bathroom and amenities.

But now in addition to the usual living room furniture, there were two bright orange couches.

His mouth dropped open as the door shut behind him as he thought, _This is not happening… it can not be happening…_

He heard a man's voice, _"Long time, no see McKay."_

"Garin, you ass, show yourself now!" It had to be him, the Ancient who had taken control of his body and in the struggle for control, crashed a Jumper and gave Rodney those scars.

"_Why would I do that?"_

"Because you just should! Now get down here!"

"_No."_

"What do you mean, no!" He never had a problem with gloating before.

"_You cannot force me to, I have control of your mind again."_

"Alright, fine!" Rodney took a moment to compose himself as he sat down in the couch that he had so many times before, "I thought you were gone, I mean you've been gone for months…"

"_True…but you forget I designed that panel, it was tricked. The crash had altered the signature of my consciousness enough so as the computer believed it had gotten all of me."_

He rubbed the back of his head and snipped, "Well, why come back _now_?"

"_It seemed as good a time as any."_

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!"

"_It's been enough time that no one would expect that I, a murderous, crazed Ancient genius, was still in your mind. I also needed time to repair myself."_

"They figured it out before!"

"_Well, yes… but the situation is different."_

"Yes, yes, yes… now there's no computer to hack into, everyone thinks you're dead, Peter's gone, and you're not going around downloading your wife into Kate…"

"_You're forgetting one thing."_

"What?" He snipped again, really _hating_ this man. Loathed him with every fiber of his being, and hadn't even thought about him for a few months, not since Elana had left, well, died, after the Daedalus had came to Atlantis. Two consciousnesses in one brain evidently was quite taxing. The situation with him and Lt. Cadman had been different from the experience with the Trelios – there had been a mind-suppressant involved and then Kate and Elana weren't fighting like him and Cadman, but the fundamentals were the same enough. Him or Cadman would have died like Elana eventually did, albeit incredibly sooner since they were fighting with each other.

"_This isn't real."_

"Of course this isn't real! I'm stuck in my mind again."

"That's not what I meant." He looked at the door to see one Lt. Col. Sheppard standing there, grinning wildly. "I thought you needed a new decorator."

"You…" Rodney couldn't get any words out as he felt for my headset that was still there. He was just talking to him through his headset. "How did you…there is no way two orange couches could have been carried through the city without my knowing about it."

"I recruited my little naked gray friend."

"Hermiod! Now this has gone too far."

He pointed to the top of his head, "Did you think I was just going to let this go?"

Rodney would never admit it, but this was good. It took a lot of planning to bring these on the Daedalus, now he knew why John didn't shoot him a month ago. He had this in the works.

"I suppose not." He watched as the Colonel sat down on the opposite ridiculously orange couch, "Hermiod beamed these down? Since when have you been on good terms with him?"

"Since I presented him with this idea. Honestly, it was a little scary that he jumped on it immediately." He set down two bottles of beer he had snuck in behind his back on the coffee table and sat opposite McKay.

It scared Rodney a little too, now he had an Asgard after him. He wondered what he ever did to him, "Yes, well, he isn't exactly a typical Asgard." He crossed his arms, and clenched his jaw, not too happy about this payback.

John motioned to the table, "I brought you beer."

He snipped at John, "I see that. Soften the blow with alcohol? What good that would have done me with a heart attack."

"They're just harmless couches Rodney."

"Harmless? Hello, they represent four days that I literally watched someone else hijack my body and live my life." Rodney's eyes flamed anger.

John knew he had just screwed up. It had taken a while for Rodney to get past the ultimate week from hell, with a lot of help from Heightmeyer and the Ancient in her head, Elana Trelio, and himself. But that was months ago, and no one else had come out hurt by it, no one was killed. A lot had happened since then, and their friendship tested more than once. Through all the planning of this payback, he didn't think Rodney would still be so angry at what had happened.

He quietly and apologetically stated, "I'll have Hermiod take them back to Earth."

Rodney grabbed the nearest bottle of beer, opened it, and took a long swig. He patted the arm of the couch and leaned back, John watching him the whole time.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, neither knowing what to say at that particular moment, one of the rare times for both of them. Rodney continued to think about the couch, it was actually very comfortable, and he didn't want to deal with decorating… nor did he have the time, "Just leave them."

John grinned, "They do also represent you saving your own ass, don't they? Crashing that Jumper and all. If you didn't, who knows where Garin would have gated to. Elana might have not figured it out."

"Just wish I would have had a seat belt." He scratched the scar on his side. It acted up once in a while, but Carson had sown him up well when he was wheeled to the infirmary in a coma.

John opened the other bottle of beer, "They were installed by then."

"I was more concerned about getting control and not going through the Gate at the time."

"Well, Garin is long gone, his computer is in storage. Everything is hunky dory." He took a sip from his bottle.

"If you call the threat of the Wraith discovering Atlantis wasn't destroyed and coming back to kill us all, yea then it's all perfect."

John slouched into a more relaxed position, his arm draped over the end of the couch, beer in the other, "One takes what one can get."

Rodney let himself relax also and drank a little more, "Ready for the sub mission tomorrow?"

Yawning, he replied, "Yea, it's a pretty cool mission, more exploration of the underwater cave system, and I get to pilot the sub."

"Why do you like doing that so much anyway, wouldn't you rather be flying in atmosphere?"

John shrugged, "A mix can't hurt."

"You're an Air Force pilot, you're supposed to enjoy flying through air and the like." Rodney took another drink, wondering how exactly the Colonel managed to get two orange couches…

"Yea, you're just trying to get out of it. The first sub mission scared the hell out of you, admit it."

Rodney denied it and began a rant, "It did not. It was… different. At least a Jumper can crash on solid ground, those subs just spell a deep, watery, wet, and cold death if something goes wrong. Not to mention the drowning… of all your recklessness you cannot say that thought hasn't crossed your mind at least the once."

John nodded remembering the alternate expedition that had drowned in the city, though he went out in a fight, "It has. But that will not be happening."

"Ronon doesn't seem too excited."

"He's hiding his anticipation." John leaned forward and took a swig from the glass bottle.

"Doing a damn good job of it then."

"We'll see how it goes."

Rodney leaned forward and asked what had been eating away at his brain, "How did Hermiod get these couches from Earth, he didn't just steal them did he? I don't want people knocking on my door with a bill for the things."

"I had a friend find them."

Rodney raised his eyebrow, "From the SGC?"

"Not necessarily."

"Well, it would have to be someone who knows about the Stargate Program to be in cahoots with Hermiod."

"Possibly."

"Military?"

"Perhaps."

"Civilian?"

"Maybe."

"Oh come on!"

"I'm not telling."

Rodney glared at John, "I will find out."

John smirked back, "No you won't."

Xxx Xxx

A very anxious man was walking through the dark halls of the city where previously studied devices and artifacts were stored in numerous rooms, passed off into the Atlantis version of oblivion once more after their millennia of resting before. He found himself not being able to sleep, and decided to go exploring the city.

He opened a door by using the side panel and looked in. Metal shelves lined the walls and others were in the center of the room. He passed his hands over the first shelf, barely being able to see the rows of smaller devices in the almost non existent light, or their tags identifying what exactly they were.

Moving on to another row, he noticed the artifacts increased in size as the shelves went on, and how in the back the extremely large artifacts that didn't fit on shelving rested on the ground.

He walked over to the line of consoles that had been deemed to no longer serve a purpose for the Expedition or were duplicates of ones already in use. He quickly counted the eighteen of them and went by the first one.

This man usually didn't have a spectacular interest in Ancient technology, but for some reason this night he felt he should get to know more about it, and he wasn't one to go around asking people for help. So, he was on his own.

He began his way down the line of consoles, all looking somewhat the same in his eyes. They had the same coloring, the same type of old-fashioned push buttons, the same height… very monotonous. The Ancients seemed to like their tested designs.

He continued to move slowly down the row, his hand grazing the edges of each as he went. They passed one by one until a specific one made him stop when his fingers grazed a panel on top.

This console was unlike the others, besides the panel it had a monitor and seemed to be a little larger. He studied the panel, looking carefully at its rectangular design and the metal cording that lined it. The cording was cool to the touch and the surface of the panel itself seemed to be made of the same material.

His fingers pressed down on the center of the panel and jolted them slightly off after being stunned. He shook his arm and rubbed it, the feeling dissipating after a few moments and decided that perhaps it wasn't such a good idea after all to be down there.

* * *

**A/N**: As usual, reviews are welcomed, I really want to know what you all are thinking!


	2. Submersion

**A/N:** I am becoming more like McKay every day, it's starting to scare me (not really, but it is quite funny because I'm the only one around me that notices (only one that watches SGA…) ). I'm finding myself snapping my fingers at people when trying to think about something and making snarky remarks, maybe because he's my favorite character to write.

Anyway… I know Sheppard's payback was somewhat mean… but hey… he was bald! And it was such a good prank!

And a reminder, this is rated Teen, so do expect profanity, not so much in this chapter, but in upcoming ones.

* * *

**Chapter 2**_- Submersion_

A very sleepy Lt. Colonel came back into consciousness in his bed, remembering the night before, mainly recalling how he left, went back to his room (to his stash of beer among other alcoholic beverages), and then went back to Rodney's room with a fresh supply. It had been a good break to sit around and just shoot the shit with Rodney after being through trust breaking times over the past few months.

He was feeling guilty for playing that prank on him; after all, it wasn't as if McKay _knew_ what that little box did when he asked him to activate it, causing him to loose _all_ of his hair, everywhere, even in places where no one had a right to be looking. That look Rodney flashed him had really cut into his heart.

But, after a few drinks and some alcohol induced talking about just about everything that was bothering the two, they had repaired the major damage, and were able to trust in each other more like they used to, before the blowing up of a solar system and a hurtful prank that trudged up long-forgotten feelings. Things had gotten pretty much back to normal, and Rodney was being more careful than he had been before with technologies.

John sat up in bed carefully, trying to fight back the dizziness swirling through his head, not regretting the occurrences of the night, but that they had a mission in four hours and he had a bit of a hangover. If he did, that meant McKay would to, but it was nothing the two men hadn't been through before. He stepped out of bed, planning to head over to the mess hall in a bit for a coffee pick up.

Xxx Xxx

Rodney had his head buried in his arms on his desk in his personal lab, a cup that had held coffee sitting in front of him, and the small reddish, pear-shaped device sitting next to it. He had drained another mug in an attempt to wake up and push out the steady pounding, and it had worked, to a point. Now every time he moved his head, nausea and lightheadedness would return.

His thoughts moved from his physical condition to the talk he had with John the night before, how they had hashed out just about everything after being loosened up from the flow of alcohol. Amazing what properties a drink has.

He just wished they would have had their little party some other night, like a Friday, when they didn't have a mission the next morning.

He sighed into his arms, recalling the coaster of emotions they both went through. Lost trust, lost faith, anger, sadness, and frustration had bubbled out of them through dreary eyes, swearing, yelling, and a few fought back tears.

In the end, it turned out alright. They had a friendship bought through blood, sweat, and danger. After all their differences, they had been through more than most people had been or would ever be, and it was hard to give up on a friendship, so they didn't. Theirs was just one of many strong friendships bred on Atlantis, one of many that the newcomers clearly had seen.

He remembered vowing the night before, while laid out on one of the orange couches, to never let his judgment be clouded by feelings again. John had come back with saying it was harder than he could imagine. Being military meant knowing that sometimes, no matter how strongly a person felt, they would lose people, that the many outweighed the few.

It didn't make it any easier when they lost people.

John had also gone on to vow that he would never bring up Dr. Garin Trelio again.

"Rodney."

He refused to lift his head, but knew by the accent who it was, "What do you want Radek?" He heard him set something down on the desk and felt the vibrations.

Radek spoke sternly, but caringly, "Take this. It will make you feel better."

Rodney lifted his head a little to see a clear glass with something blood red in it sitting in front of him, "What the hell is that?"

Radek stood with an identical glass in his hand, "Just drink and you shall see. Honestly, with a mission in four hours. You two are incredible."

"How do you know?" Rodney eyed the glass, sitting up more now.

"Please, seeing the Colonel wandering into the mess hall, trying not to sway, rubbing his head, muttering under breath, and then seeing you in same state walking in here. I can put pieces of the puzzle together."

Rodney scoffed, "You would know, that stuff you make is infinitely worse than whatever we had." He picked up the glass and swirled the blood red liquid, "What is in this anyway?"

"A little of this, a little of that, developed it in grad school."

"Is there a reason you never brought this out before?"

"You never had important mission with a hangover before."

Rodney sighed and lifted the glass to his nose, smelling it. It didn't have an odor at all, "If I die from this, I'm going to kill you."

"Hard to do if you are dead."

Rodney drained the liquid, smacking his lips after. "Humph, doesn't taste like anything either."

"It's not supposed to." Radek had noticed the device sitting on the desk earlier and brought it up now, "Any progress on that?" He pointed to it.

He set the glass down, "No. The only information known about it is that it was found in 756G."

"The room that can only be described as a small university lecture hall?"

"That's the one. Most likely some sort of teaching aid if the room is what we think it is."

Radek turned to leave, still holding the second glass, "Well, I am going."

Rodney noticed his headache clearing up and thought that Radek's potion really did work, "See you later." Radek walked towards the door as he caught his last comment, "Thanks."

"It's no problem, Rodney."

Radek left and headed down the hall being careful not to spill the liquid in the glass. He couldn't have two out of four people that were going on the mission being half out of it, not this mission anyway. They were also overall good men, ones that he considered friends. Rodney a little more than the Colonel though. That and Elizabeth would be angry, something that wouldn't fare well for the whole city.

He stepped in the transporter and a few seconds later was walking out of it, towards the mess hall where he had last seen John Sheppard heading to. He scanned the room, seeing a few new faces, military and civilian scientists that had arrived the previous day, and then the tell-tale dreadlocks of Ronon Dex who was sitting across from the Colonel.

Walking over, he inspected John's condition. He had his head propped up with his left hand and was picking at his tray absent mindedly. His eyes were droopy, looking down, and he didn't seem to be paying attention to what was going on around him.

Radek sat down next to Ronon, who grunted and nodded in a greeting since he had his mouth full and the alternative of spitting food on the scientist wasn't any better. Zelenka saw how John didn't notice his arrival.

"Colonel, here." He set the glass down next to John's tray, "Drink that, it will help."

John's eyes passed from the tray to the glass and to Radek, "Where did you come from?"

"Prague. Now, drink all of it and you will no longer feel this way."

Ronon swallowed and glanced at the scientist, "He wouldn't take my remedy."

"That's because it smelled like elephant shit." John picked up the glass and swirled it around, his head still propped up.

"What is an elephant?"

John sniffed the liquid, "A rather large animal. You wouldn't want to get in one's way."

"Talking from personal experience, Colonel?"

He looked over at the Czech, "Let's just say I got a little too close to the railing at the zoo once as a kid and took a tumble."

Radek hid his inner laughter, "Drink that, it will pay off."

"If you say so," John began to drink, tilting his head back as he reached the bottom of the glass, finally getting all of it down into his system. "Just like red colored water."

"It's more than that."

Ronon stabbed at his hash browns, having mastered the delicate art of using silverware, "Mine would have worked also."

Radek questioned, "What is it made of?"

The two radically different men started discussing the content of their remedies, leaving John to his own thoughts. He remembered that day at the zoo, how he went with his baby brother and their mother and how he was holding out a peanut, trying to get it closer to the elephants so they would take it with their trunks. His mother wasn't looking; she was too busy chasing down Chris.

He stepped up on the bottom rung of the railing, then up to the next one, and then he fell over and found himself in the exhibit, with a whole bag of peanuts. The elephants knew he had them since he had been throwing them in before, so they pretty much rushed at him.

The eight-year old John followed his instinct.

To run.

But he still had the bag, so he was followed by a herd of elephants that over the years had been used to receiving food from people. He ran over the grasses, not hearing the people screaming from the sides for zoo security and the trainers.

He suddenly realized that he felt about 95 better after drinking Zelenka's personal cocktail, and how it made sense that he would have a hangover remedy. It wasn't really a secret that he had a hidden distiller somewhere in the city. Of course, only the original crew knew that.

His attention was caught from his rambling thoughts by a very loud "Colonel."

"Hmm? What Zelenka?"

"Feel better?"

"Yea actually. Thanks." He waved over at the red stained glass, "You should take Rodney some of this."

Ronon was now sitting in front of an empty tray, "He already did."

"Good." _Guess I zoned out a little._ "I'll see you both at the meeting." He stood up thinking about the strange pair Zelenka and Ronon made sitting next to each other.

Radek nodded, "Yes, in half an hour."

After turning the tray in, John grabbed two cups of coffee and began a search. Since Rodney hadn't been in the mess hall, he headed to the hall of laboratories, more commonly known as the 'Realm of the Geeks.' It was the second home of every scientist in Atlantis, except the ones that had taken residence aboard the Daedalus, but they even made trips to these labs.

He poked his head into the main research lab where he found him the night before, only to find the blonde German scientist that had worked on the crashed Wraith Dart with Radek, Kavanagh lurking in the corner, and a few others.

A door down was the personal lab and office of the Chief Scientist, and that's where he found Rodney McKay sitting at his desk, leaning back in the chair, arms folded, and staring down at the obstinate device. An empty mug and an empty glass were pushed to the corner of the desk.

At the scent of fresh coffee that wafted in with John, Rodney looked up and saw him in a normal, awake state, "Radek got to you too, huh?"

John set down a cup in front of the other man, "Sure did. Saved both our asses."

"Mmm, more coffee, just what I needed to fill my quotient for the morning." He took a sip and moved back to the subject, "I would have hated to have gone to the meeting and have faced Elizabeth in my previous condition."

"Same here, after this situation is cleared up, we would have been city-bound or worse for awhile." He almost shivered at the thought, when the Expedition leader got mad, she got even.

Rodney waved around the amazingly packed room, "At least I would have had work to do."

"Hey, I do plenty in the city." John sat down in the other lone chair that was directly across from Rodney's position at the desk.

"I didn't say you don't."

"Could have fooled me."

"That isn't hard."

"Isn't hard to find a nice, sandy planet to happen to leave someone either."

"You would never do that to me. But since we're on the subject, how about we throw a certain pony-tailed jerk through the Gate to a planet that fits that description?"

John laughed, "That would get us into more trouble than going to the meeting with hangovers and having a mission after."

"Would be worth it. Besides, who would know?" He pointed to John, "Here's what we do, you get a hand-stunner from the armory late one night while I make sure the Gateroom is devoid of people and call an emergency somewhere that needs _every_ on duty scientist's attention, it would be late at night of course so less chance of witnesses, you stun him and bring him to the Gate while I activate it, throw him through," He smiled as he continued and kept moving his hands around, "and I erase any history of that address being dialed. Of course there are the problems of him dialing back here, or to the Alpha Site, so the DHD on the other side would have to be disabled somehow… oh it could just be one of the planets without one!"

"Okay… you're a little too excited about that."

Rodney's expression fell, "Oh right. Anyway, about this device Colonel…"

"No." He took a sip of his coffee.

"It'll take a second."

"No."

Rodney said out of frustration, "Fine. I'll go look for that new anthropologist…I wonder what his name is, he's French or something. Apparently his gene is supposed to be as strong as yours."

"You do that, because I am done with little pieces of Ancient technology. Things that we know what they do, I have no problem with."

They continued to chat awhile; killing time discussing John witnessing the bizarre friendship Radek and Ronon had seemed to strike up in the mess hall over a common interest, the other new people that had arrived, and a few other random topics. Before they knew it, it was time for the meeting.

After Rodney made sure to grab his laptop, the two friends strolled out of the lab and through the hall, making their way directly to the debriefing room where they found Elizabeth at the head of the U-shaped table, Teyla to her right, Ronon on further down the table, and Radek standing by the viewing screen. On it was an image of the ocean floor.

"John, Rodney. Glad you could join us." Elizabeth eyed the two men, noticing that they both walked in a tad sheepishly.

Pretending that he didn't get plastered the night before with Rodney, John responded sincerely, "Wouldn't miss it." He took a seat to her left wondering about the absence of Col. Caldwell and watched as Rodney talked with Radek quietly getting caught up. This meeting was more of review from the previous day's hectically thrown together briefing to fill in any new information that came up.

"We have the latest readings from the city's sensors and the Daedalus scans here," Radek pointed to the stats on the screen that were displayed next to a sketchy image.

Rodney continued, "They show what we've suspected. On the ocean floor is indeed a fissure that is giving off heat."

"The temperature has increased by fifty degrees Celsius since yesterday."

To round out the information Rodney added, "And it seems to be enlarging slowly, the increased wave activity is due to the small tremors radiating from it."

"So, it is volcanic?"

Radek answered Elizabeth's concerned voice, "We still do not know. Once the sub gets close enough to get some more detailed readings-"

Only to be cut off by Rodney, "The city and Daedalus sensors are still being slightly distorted. But once we get close for accurate readings, it would be blatantly obvious if it's a danger."

Teyla questioned politely and inquisitively, "How deep is the ocean where we are to be going?"

Rodney turned to Radek and they took the briefest moment to calculate it in their heads and simultaneously said, "20,170 meters."

Ronon said almost under his breath, "That sounds extreme."

"Oh it is, especially when you consider the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean-" Rodney snapped his fingers in thought.

"The Mariana Trench."

"Yes, thank you Radek. Is 11,000 meters deep."

John hid a small amount of uneasiness, "The submarines can withstand the pressure, right?"

Radek answered, "Yes, far as we know from data calculated from previous missions at shallow depths."

Rodney commented, "I wouldn't be going if it wasn't safe, Colonel."

"Well, that's good to know." John said with sarcasm underlying his voice.

Elizabeth looked around at the group, "The team leaves in two hours. We need to know if the fissure is dangerous to Atlantis."

Xxx Xxx

John passed through the first set of massive Submarine Hanger doors, and then through the second set. It still amazed him how large the room was and how it was freakily similar to the Jumper Bay, if one ignored the circular formation in the center of the floor, along with the one on the far side of the wall. The one in floor led directly into the ocean while the one in the side opened slightly above it.

The science team had discovered the submarines could fly in space like a Puddle Jumper if they needed to, most likely what the exit on the side was for. They were however, designed for underwater travel. They were narrower and their ends were rounded to cut through the water more efficiently. Their hulls were also double layered, and had several extra systems.

He greeted his team as he approached Sub 1, and they returned the greeting. All were dressed in mission gear, except Ronon who still opted to wear his tight fitting shirt and leather-like pants.

Rodney was checking a system in the back of the opened vehicle, Teyla checking a few pockets in her vest, and Ronon was rolling his hands across each other and playing with his fingers.

John noticed Ronon's behavior, "You alright?"

He turned his head in the Colonel's direction, "Yes, why?"

"No reason. Let's get on with this, guys."

They all filed into the sub, John taking the pilot's seat, Rodney beside him. Teyla sat behind the scientist and next to the Sedetian. The underwater vehicle was powered up by John's ATA gene and he took a hold of the controls, commanding it to rise from its resting place and fly over to the center of the bay.

Rodney hit the button that was above a smaller version of the Jumper's DHD and under another one that opened the side portal. The one in the floor opened very much like the Earth Stargate's iris and John lowered the sub through it, water rushing over the front window and in a moment they were heading to the bottom of the ocean.

John commented, "Another exciting mission."

"I thought you liked piloting this thing." Rodney checked over some readings he had brought with him that the city's sensors gave out.

Teyla kept her eyes focused through the front of the submarine, "I've always found the ocean fascinating."

"It's not that I don't like piloting, it's where we're going that's giving me the creeps. We've never been that deep before." John ran his fingers through his hair.

Rodney snarked, "You seemed fine when the city was at the bottom."

"Well, yea, but then there was a shield and everything and it wasn't all that deep compared to the trench."

"It's just water, Sheppard."

John thought Ronon said that not to convince him, "I know."

* * *

**A/N:** The consciousness will be coming out to play soon. Leave me something, you know how much I love to read them! 


	3. Descent

**A/N:** Thank you all for reviewing (hugs all around)as other writers would know, we read them over…and over… and thanks for all the reading and waiting patiently for this chapter.

My beta lives! I am so happy about that, minor errors on the other two chapters have been fixed, nothing you have to go back for though.

Glad to know people liked Radek in here, he's becoming another of my favorite characters to write.

On with the show…

* * *

**Chapter 3**_- Descent _

John took a deep breath as he controlled the submarine's descent to the bottom of the ocean floor, the deepest part of the ocean floor. Something was bothering him and he couldn't quite place it. The sub felt different to him than it had the last time they took it out. When he connected his mind to it, it was almost as if it was yelling at him, but a computer couldn't yell. He never felt anything like this before when he used Ancient technology, even with that same sub, and it was unsettling.

"Colonel?" Teyla's voice broke him from his thoughts. She had been paying close attention to his behavior since they left about twenty minutes earlier, to his and Ronon's. They both seemed to be uneasy about this mission. Rodney wasn't at all, or he had managed to hide it better because he was working away at the laptop he had brought along, oblivious to the other members of the team.

"Yes?" He didn't turn around.

"You seem… tense. Are you feeling well?"

"I'm fine. Just this whole 'going deeper than anyone has gone before' aspect of this mission."

She cocked her head, pondering over his comment. She knew that wasn't it, but couldn't force him to continue if he refused.

Ronon humphed in agreement, "I can see that." He wasn't one to show much emotion, but he really did not want to go on this mission. The thought of being so far underwater touched something off in him.

"It's not as if you haven't traveled under the ocean before." Rodney kept his focus on working. He felt calmer when he did, he wasn't thinking about how far they were actually going under the waves.

"The previous missions were on the plateau Atlantis was resting on before it rose; this is on the _actual_ ocean floor."

"Once you get past a certain depth, it doesn't really matter much anymore. If the submarine fails and compresses under 20,000 meters, we die, if it fails under 1,000, we still die."

John's voice was coated with sarcasm, "That's very comforting, thank you Rodney."

"No problem."

Teyla decided to move the conversation along a bit, "How far are we now?"

Rodney did a quick check of the readings, "1,680 meters."

"Still have 2hours and 40minutes to go at our current rate of about 112.05 meters per minute. You would think this would go a little faster." John thought about that time, the time they would spend on the bottom, and then the trip back… he didn't like it at all. Not with the submarine giving off strange feelings. He didn't say anything, not knowing whether or not he was imagining it, if it was just nerves.

Rodney snipped, noticing how fast the closeted math genius blurted that stat out, "How fast do you want a water vehicle to go?"

"A little faster."

"Anxious are we?"

"Possibly."

"Well, you'll get no sympathy from me after what you pulled last night."

"I thought we were fine on that now."

"Doesn't mean I won't bring it up."

"Bring what up?"

Rodney turned around to face Teyla, "Oh, the Colonel here decided putting two orange couches in my room would be great revenge for the hair incident last month."

Ronon looked around at the three, not knowing of the reference, "Why would that be revenge?"

John ran his fingers through his too short hair for his taste, "It's a long story from a few months ago."

Teyla immediately knew to what he was referring to and directed her speech to John, "That wasn't very kind of you."

He shrugged, "I know that now."

Ronon was persistent, "We have time for an explanation."

John and Teyla glanced at Rodney and Teyla asked him, "Would you mind him knowing?"

Rodney turned back around to face the front, "Like I care. I'm just not telling it." He pulled out a pair of headphones from his vest pocket, the ones that just go in the ear, plugged them into the laptop, put them on, and turned on the music file he installed as Teyla started relaying the events of a long-passed week to Ronon.

---

Radek Zelenka was in the main lab busily keeping the scientist contingent in line, which wasn't as hard as Rodney made it out to be. The others were the best in their fields and knew what they were doing. Granted, some of the attitudes left something to be desired, but once one learned their traits, they were easily controlled.

But, Radek was glad when Rodney returned from missions so he could get a break from his de-facto position as chief scientist when he was gone. He liked the responsibility of it in short increments, but it could be an awful stack to handle and he often wondered how Rodney didn't break with his double load. That and he still preferred to do everything himself if he possibly could, though he was settling in to a little more delegation.

He got the urge to find the red pear-shaped device. Perhaps he would be able to make a break in its study. It was irking him almost as much as it was Rodney. After all, it was just a small thing, and he was debating with himself about why it wouldn't activate.

He left and went next door to where he last knew it was, sitting on Rodney's desk as he thought about the reasons. Rodney couldn't activate it, so the trigger could somehow be broken, which would be rather interesting since they hadn't come across that before and it could help them understand how it worked better. The power could of course be depleted, but tests showed they weren't. Then there was the possibility that there was something else needed to turn it on.

The door slid open to McKay's lab and he immediately saw the device wasn't on the desk. He knew it wasn't back in the main lab, so he took a walk around the room, not seeing it anywhere. Just as he crossed his arms in defeat his radio comm. activated,

"_Zelenka, we have an issue in Storage Room 27D. Security did a routine sweep a few minutes ago and it seems someone was in there last night, some items have been swept to the floor, as if the shelf was bumped into. The security footage somehow missed the person."_

It was that young sergeant that arrived with the Marines during the Wraith attack and was posted up in the Control Room, where Grodin used to be… "And you are contacting me because?" It wasn't often he went down to the storage rooms.

"_Because the intruder could have messed with something, and Dr. Weir doesn't want anything blowing up. Her exact words were 'Have Dr. Zelenka lead the scientist team and have Major Lorne go with them.' So, that's what I'm doing."_

"Alright," He thought a moment about who to have accompany him, "Have Lorne come to main lab, we'll be ready."

"_Ok, You have ten minutes, doctor."_

"Thank you Sergeant." He took a last look around Rodney's lab, wondering where the hell he could have put that thing and knowing he'd have to wait until the mission was over to find out. The door to the main lab opened and he practically ran into a taller blonde woman with glasses.

They faced each other, "I'm sorry Radek, wasn't expecting that." She brushed her khaki and blue issue jacket as she spoke with a light German accent.

"Not an issue, Alexa. I was looking for you, someone was in 27D and we need to make sure nothing dangerous was altered."

"Really?" She paused and continued, "Did you check the security footage? It should have caught the culprit."

Radek shrugged, "I was told it did not."

"We should check it ourselves when we get back."

"Agreed." He motioned back to the door, "First we need some equipment."

The two scientists walked back into the main lab, Alexa heading over to her station while still talking to Radek, "No one should have been down there yesterday at all."

"Very true. It is bothering me." He was standing over by his workspace, glancing over at Alexa. She was one of the newer scientists, but they had quickly fallen into a good working relationship.

They both picked up some gear as they were waiting for Major Lorne, who showed up promptly at the door in full mission attire, "Ready to go, doctors?"

Radek eyed the P90, "Do you really need that?"

"It's only a precaution, doctor. Nothing to worry about."

As the trio moved down the hall, Radek hoped there wouldn't be.

---

Silence fell over the team as Teyla had finished the story a few minutes earlier, and Rodney pulled out his earplugs upon noticing. John was focused on the submarine, still getting a creepy vibe from it and not being able to shrug it off.

Ronon fluttered his eyelids and his head twitched to the side. His sights fell on Teyla beside him, and then moved to the seat in front of her, his eyes widening as he continued to look over at John.

His gaze darted back and forth, and he rubbed his eyes. When they opened again and he saw the same thing as he had only a moment before, he shouted, "What the hell is going on here!"

McKay responded, "Can't take a little underwater exploration Dex? Who would have thought that a big, burly man like-"

He was quickly cut off by Ronon who bellowed, "Shut up! I need some answers here!"

John kept his thoughts on the controlled sinking of the sub, "What is with you Dex, calm down, that's an order."

"Stop calling me Dex, Major." He rubbed his face and muttered, "Must be some sort of delusion because I'm dying… but why this…"

John and Rodney looked at each other, Rodney mouthing 'Major' in a questioning way and Teyla leaned over and asked concerned, "Ronon, are you alright?"

Ronon sighed, "No! Stop calling me Dex or Ronon or whatever." He looked down at his attire, a pair of leather pants and a dark, hugging tank top, and started talking to no one in particular, "What am I wearing, I would never… what kind of bizarre messed up hallucination is this! I'm not even me, I'm sitting over there!" He motioned over at McKay.

The other three team members looked at each other, and then back at Ronon. A feeling that they should be delicate with this passed between them, they were under several hundred feet of ocean with a freaking out weapons specialist. John was the first to respond, "So, what should we call you then?"

"Rodney McKay. _Doctor_ McKay, but you all know that. This may not be real, but I'm taking over this delusion, no matter if there's a hallucination of me over there. Next time I get my hands on Garin, I am not going to stop beating the shit out of him. This is ridiculous! I'm dying and my mind decides to put me into this crazy reality. Where are we?"

He looked around and out the window and saw a rather large fish with red scales and blue gills, "Must be a submarine, awful lot like a Jumper. I have always suspected there had to be some in the city, too bad I'll never have the chance to find them because my body is withering away in the back of a Jumper. Though placing myself in a made up identity is rather curious, I wonder why that happened… dissociation or something… oh my god, Kate… Zeloon…no Zelenka and Grodin should be able to help with that lunatics wife. Her running from him is a good sign though…hmmf." He crossed his arms, and looked over to the side of the sub.

During this rant the other three looked at Ronon, then at each other, and back at Ronon. They could not believe what had just come out of the man who usually didn't go off and talk for bouts that long. They all pieced together what he had said, the memories of what had happened a few months earlier suddenly came rushing back.

McKay being locked in the infirmary after punching a then Major Sheppard, at first being treated for a dissociative disorder but really being taken over by Dr. Garin Trelio, him secretly downloading his wife, Elana, into Kate Heightmeyer, being found out, Elana revealing the location of the Submarine Bay as a possible escape route, and him escaping the city through the auxiliary Control Room and crashing a Jumper in the process.

Rodney couldn't speak from the shock. He had encountered some terribly bizarre things in the Pegasus Galaxy, including being completely taken over by another consciousness and then semi-taken over by a certain Lieutenant, and they met the elderly alternate Weir, but this surpassed them all in his view. He, or a copy of him, was inside Ronon Dex's mind, _talking_ and thinking what he would be thinking if he was there… well he was…

Teyla continued, wanting to make sure what they all thought was really happening, "What do you last recall?"

Ronon snipped, "Oh let me see, sitting in gigantic white world with a psychopath that took over my body and crashed a Jumper where you all can never find me."

The Colonel had put the sub on autopilot when Ronon had said his name was Rodney McKay, and was now facing him, "That was five months ago."

"What are you talking about?" He looked around at the group, feeling extremely odd looking at himself who was looking back at him.

John said a little quietly, "This isn't a delusion of your coma. It's really happening."

The alternate McKay snipped, "Again, what are you talking about!"

This time the real Rodney felt as if he should say something, no matter how peculiar it was, "You must be the copy of me from when Radek and Peter downloaded Garin out of my head." He shook his head in disbelief and muttered angrily, "I am going to seriously hurt Radek, I thought he said he dele-" He stopped, thinking he'd better not continue what he was about to say, he wouldn't want to hear it if places were switched.

"No, no, no. That's impossible. How would I have got back to Atlantis?" There was no way that he was going to go along with this. It had to be a delusion, he was dying after all and his mind, even with a crazed Ancient in it, would be able to come up with this elaborate hallucination.

"Elana Trelio told them where to find me."

The copied Rodney snarked, "Oh really, Garin's wife?" He had never actually met the woman, but he did have an apprehension of her. She was the spouse of a madman, though it seemed to him that Garin became one slowly, later in life.

"I didn't believe it at first either, but she did." The memories he had gotten rid of were floating around in the original McKay's mind, the waiting, the watching, the screaming… and this version of him hadn't had the time to get past all that. He shivered.

John turned back around, "Okay, I'm calling this mission off and we are going to figure out just how exactly this happened once we get back." He was weirded out by what just transpired several thousand feet under the ocean's surface. This complication certainly warranted a trip back to the city.

"What!" The two McKays exclaimed.

John turned back and replied, "We're not honestly continuing with this mission."

Teyla nodded in agreement, "We should get back to Atlantis, this will have to wait for another team." She was thinking about what had occurred with their past experiences with consciousnesses in other bodies; it never boded well in the end. Garin had almost killed himself and Rodney, Elana had died, and either Cadman or Rodney would have if he hadn't thought of a way to fix the problem with the Wraith beam.

"What is the mission anyway?" The other Rodney in Ronon's body asked, looking around. He decided that this did have a possibility of being real. From what Garin had revealed to him early on about the computer and the panel, he knew that what the Rodney McKay sitting in front of him had said could have happened. He thought that they must have copied him accidentally; they certainly weren't acting like they expected this.

Teyla replied to him, "Investigating a fissure that was picked up on sensors yesterday. It's emitting intense heat and growing in size."

The team saw Ronon getting excited exactly the way Rodney does when something scientifically large happens, acting like a kid who had been given a lollipop, "We have to check it out."

The original Rodney responded, "I know," he jerked his head in John's direction, "we have to convince the _Lt. Colonel_ of that first."

"_Colonel_? When did that happen?" Ronon darted his head around and squinched his forehead.

John sighed, not knowing how he was going to handle _two_ Rodney McKays. Different versions, but still two, "When we went back to Earth."

"What! How? Did I figure something out, find a ZedPM, a different power source?" Ronon still looked like a kid in a candy store

Rodney boasted, "Actually, the whole story is that we had a fleet of Wraith Hive ships coming, so I used a high-compression data burst and sent it through the Gate, after some finessing of the compression ratios of course, once it was powered by several Jumper's engines."

The Rodney in Ronon nodded, knowing that was exactly what he would have done.

John added, "Stargate Command sent some help and the Daedalus."

"Which brought a ZedPM."

His eyes flashed in even more excitement, "Where'd they get that?"

John shrugged, "A dig in Egypt. It was left behind by Ra or something."

It didn't all sink in for the copied Rodney just yet, it was too much. His face showed his trepidation, "Alright, well where's Ford and who is this guy?" He pointed to himself, "And how did I get downloaded into him?" It hurt him to admit that he was not the original, but it wasn't as if he could deny it.

The copied McKay's innocent question tugged at the three's hearts and Teyla responded for the team, "He was last seen being beamed into a Dart. He has been affected by the Wraith enzyme when he was fighting during the attack and is not himself. You are in Ronon Dex. We met him a couple months ago."

Ronon snapped his fingers, "Woah, hold on. Wraith made it _into_ the city, wasn't the shield up powered by the ZedPM?"

Teyla continued, "The Daedalus arrived after the Wraith. Rodney got it installed as soon as he could, without a moment to spare."

"Oh _he_ did, did _he_?" Ronon directed his question at Rodney, "What were you doing, sleeping on the job?"

"Hey! It was an insane, sleepless few days, the ship got here within minutes of a bombardment on the city, and I was attacked by Wraith on my way there." Rodney felt very odd fighting with himself, he wondered who would win… then he thought he would because he was the original.

John and Teyla were giving each other looks, wondering if they should stop this.

The Rodney from five months ago sat back in the chair for the first time since waking up in the submarine, "Better you than me." The corners of his mouth turned up in response to his own play on words.

Teyla gave John a look, "Colonel, you were going to do something."

"Right…I'm contacting Atlantis now." John turned back to the front console and activated the communication systems.

The outside headlights shut off, then the all the others followed suit, moving their way to the back of the submarine.

"What the f-"

The McKays didn't have a chance to finish as the vehicle took a nosedive in the water, forcing them all to fight to stay in their seats or be thrown around the sinking submarine.

* * *

**A/N:** Diddum! Now, I don't know if "Rodnon" isa curveball to some or if it was obvious to others.

I didn't know the blonde scientist's name (or if she even has one, she was in _Duet_) so she is Dr. Alexa Stroh in my world. I don't know the Sergeant's name either.

Questions, comments, anyone? Please? I will send more electronic hugs!


	4. Fried and Screwed

**A/N:** If it ever seems like I have a split personality in regards to titles, not all of them are mine, some are my beta's. She came up with this one and the name for 'Rodnon.' She's great.

Electronic hugs (and at the request of krysalys, Wilbur chocolate) for all who reviewed. I love feedback, thanks so much. I thought I'd get a bunch of responses, and I was right. Also, for the lurkers, Hi ! Hope you're enjoying this.

I decided to post this chapter now, or I'll never stop tinkering with it.

* * *

**Chapter 4**_-Fried and Screwed_

"Rodney!" John yelled over at the scientist who was trying to push himself off of the console. They were all thrown as far front as they could possibly be, and the submarine was still sinking and angled to the ocean floor and out of John's control.

"What!" He got an answer from two men, one on both sides of him, and neither of whom he could see in the pitch black.

"I would like to know what's going on here!"

"Sort of hard to tell in the dark, Maj- Colonel."

"Maybe we should work on getting light?" Teyla was on the far side of the sub next to Rodney digging in her vest pocket.

"Right, light. Where's my…" Rodney darted his eyes around the sub for his gear, unable to focus on anything when a small light suddenly appeared from next to him, shining around, and another one quickly showed up too.

"There's your light." John and Teyla both had their small flashlights out, retrieved from their vest pockets.

Ronon braced himself on the console and lifted himself from the prone position, "You're making us look bad, _doctor_."

"Oh, shut up would you?"

"Don't tell me to shut up."

"I can if I want to."

He motioned to his muscular arms, "I can be beat you up, this is a rather fit body."

Rodney snipped, "Cause physical harm to the original, that's real mature."

John cut in rather agitatedly, "Rodney!" He yelled for the second time since the sub went haywire, "Stop and focus on what just happened to this thing. It feels like we're sinking damn rapidly here." He moved so as he had his feet resting against where the console and floor met, his back against the floor, but due to the angle of the sub, he was practically standing. The chair was directly behind him so he had to actually crouch. He held the flashlight so it would illuminate most of the front section.

Teyla had already done the same, but since the other chair was behind Rodney, she could lean fully against the floor. She spoke to Rodney, "It began when the Colonel attempted to contact Atlantis. Perhaps the communication systems malfunctioned and set off a reaction."

Rodney and Ronon glared at each other as they followed suit and struggled to stand up.

"Astute observation. Now shine the lights over there." Rodney pointed to a spot centrally located on the controls, they did and he reached out and began to play with some buttons, "No power… hmm..." He crouched down further and pried open a panel on the bottom, revealing the usual flat, clear crystals.

"Maj- Colonel, move over," The alternate Rodney attempted to pass John who didn't move, "Now?"

John looked to his left at Ronon wondering how long it would take for him to be driven insane trapped in a sinking submarine with two Rodney McKays, "You honestly have no idea how to let Ronon have control back? It is his body after all."

"No I-" He changed direction with his speech; "you don't believe I'm doing this on purpose do you? Do you even _know_ what I just woke up from, hmm? I'd rather be d-" He stopped himself quickly.

Rodney glanced up at Ronon, knowing precisely what he was going to say. He had never told anyone the extent of which Garin Trelio had played with his mind, not even John. It came to a point before the chase through the bowels of the city that he wished it would just end; he couldn't take the watching helplessly anymore. He looked back at the crystals, pushing the memory out.

John responded, "I've been told what happened, but now isn't the time to talk about it."

"Exactly, so let me just get over there-"

Rodney mumbled, "Crap."

John let out a breath, "I don't like the sound of that."

"Me neither." The copied Rodney crossed Ronon's arms, desperately wanting to get over to that panel himself but knowing it would be hard to even maneuver over there with a Colonel in the way.

"The main power conduit is completely fried, along with the two bypasses."

John moved him along, "So…"

"So that means we have no power to the engine systems. None. We will continue to sink at our present rate, which is bizarre due to this angle… and crash into the ocean floor to wait out the rest of our lives, our unbelievably short lives, unless by some miracle I can find another way to reroute the power supply that I haven't found in the months of studying this submarine."

Before John or Teyla could edge in a comment, Ronon's voice muttered, "Great going Major. Damn it, I meant Colonel." He could not believe he had finally escaped the prison of his mind only to be trapped in a sinking sub with himself.

John vehemently denied responsibility, "I didn't do anything."

Ronon responded, "Like hell you didn't. You had to touch something."

"Just the comm. system." The military commander of Atlantis crossed his arms.

Rodney nodded, "Then that was the catalyst."

And the alternate him added, "So you did cause it."

Teyla attempted to lighten the mood, "Faulty wiring, right Colonel?" She had heard him blame other mishaps on that aspect.

"Exactly. Thank you." He aimed his voice at the two McKays and thought if one of them didn't fix this, he would go crazy defending himself from them, "You see? Not my fault." He then recalled the feeling he had from the sub, "Although… there was something weird before…"

The two McKay's ears perked up, one looking rather bizarre since it was Ronon Dex after all, "Like what?" Again, both talking at the same time.

John shrugged sheepishly, "The computer was yelling at me."

Teyla asked, "Could you actually hear it, or was it more like a feeling?"

"Feeling, a really strange feeling, like it wanted me to respond to it."

Rodney blurted out, "Or warn you."

The copied McKay looked straight at himself, "Of course."

"Its own diagnostic system."

The conversation between the two of them continued, "That automatically alerts the pilot."

"Lot of good that did." Rodney huffed.

"I – you should have piloted."

"Yea, but I had work to do."

John once again interrupted, "Anyone care to fill us in? Sub still sinking here."

Rodney and Ronon both sighed, Ronon talking, "The Ancients must have installed a sort of diagnostic system that relates information directly to the pilot, though why it's not in the Jumpers-"

He was cut off by his original self, "In our research Radek and I uncovered some information that the Jumpers we have in Atlantis predate these sub models."

"The Ancients developed this system after the Jumpers were already built?"

Rodney turned back to Teyla, "It looks that way. Or they just didn't feel the need to install them in Jumpers. They have other safety precautions."

Teyla continued, "Does this have one to prevent our inevitable crash on the bottom?"

Rodney got the hint, "Right, working on the problem now. Though I really don't know if there's anything…" He pried open another panel, words trailing off and all thoughts no longer focused on hurting Radek when they got back for apparently not deleting the copy of his consciousness and that copy taking over Ronon Dex's body, not knowing how to surrender control.

---

Dr. Alexa Stroh walked into Storage Room 27D next to Dr. Radek Zelenka and looked around. At first glance, everything seemed normal.

"This is the disturbance you brought me down here for?" She commented to Radek without being mean about it, she was really just teasing him.

He continued walking, "We are barely in the room yet."

Alexa smiled and followed, actually glad that she was out of the lab with one of the few people she had seen stand up to the Chief Scientist. She understood why other people didn't, but she wasn't one of those types. Rodney immediately figured out that she wasn't when they first met before the first return trip to Atlantis.

He had made a flippant remark in the lab at Cheyenne Mountain, when it was just the two of them, about some of her previous work being not up to par and returned to his quarters with an earful of angry German and a red handprint on his face. She knew everything she had done wasn't perfect, but the research he was referring to earned her the spot she had in Atlantis and she wasn't going to let it be tarnished by his comments. She was surprised when nothing ever came of the incident, perhaps he was too embarrassed that 'another dumb blonde' had put him down.

Major Lorne was following behind the two, scanning the room for anything that could pop out from behind a shelf, anything to explain how some devices had ended up on the floor and no one was caught going in or out of the room.

They walked through the almost endless rows of shelves, paying close attention if there was something out of place, but nothing was until they rounded a corner and came upon an area far into the room, where the large surplus consoles had been placed.

Radek muttered, "Oh, great."

The farthest shelf that had stood alone a few feet from the wall was suspiciously angled, some devices had been put back, and there were four basketball sized objects on the floor.

Major Lorne pointed with his P90 at them, "What are those?"

Alexa replied, "Anchors. Extremely heavy anchors."

"They were most likely used to secure boats we haven't found yet."

"They're not dangerous?"

Radek shook his head, "Not in the least."

Lorne passed them, "Alright, I'll just put them back on the shelf for you."

The two scientists looked at each other for a brief moment before Alexa called out to the soldier, "I don't think you want to do that."

"Why not? You said they weren't a danger." He crouched down by the first one.

She shrugged, "Have it your way."

Lorne rubbed his hands together and then placed them under one of the anchors and lifted. Or rather, tried to lift. His arms were straining under the pressure of the weight, his legs burning, and his face red and sweating before he gave up and looked back. "So, they're heavy. How'd you get them up on the shelf in the first place?"

Radek grinned, "Effortlessly." He walked over, bent down, and looked over the round anchor. He located what he was searching for and pressed it. A piece of the outer covering folded open. He pressed a few buttons on the inside, and closed the casing. The anchor then rose off of the ground, and with some guiding from Radek's hand, went to the shelf and rested on it.

Alexa went over to help with the others, and the Major stood there trying not to look defeated.

Radek was in the middle of moving another one, "Whoever was in here must have run into shelf and was unable to replace these. They were the only ones on the ground."

"That means we can rule out our science team." Alexa moved one of the anchors to its storage place.

"All the scientists would know how to move these?"

"Yes, Major." Radek was hunched over the last anchor to the shelf.

"So, it was one of the _military_?" Lorne asked, not wanting to believe one of his was snooping unauthorized.

Alexa was looking around at the consoles, "Seems that way." Her eyes set on one that looked different from the others and she moved over to it, "Radek, what is this one?" She traced the metal that lined the panel on top and eyed the monitor.

Radek turned his head as the anchor landed on the shelf and his eyes widened slightly, "Don't touch that!"

She pulled her hand back, "Why?"

"Yeah, what's your deal, Doctor?"

"That's right, you two wouldn't know about that particular console."

Lorne shifted his weight, "Why don't you fill us in?"

"That is Garin Trelio's computer."

"Oh." Alexa Stroh knew immediately what that small comment meant.

"That explains it." Lorne, Stroh, and the other new members of the Expedition had been given access to previous reports from Atlantis. Though few actually read them all, these two did.

Radek immediately had a thought; there was obviously someone down there… "Alexa, there is a possibility that the someone who was in here… used it."

"Purposely?" Major Lorne asked.

Alexa observed, "Not necessarily, if they did not know exactly what it was they could have mistakenly copied themselves."

"But nothing else?" He asked again.

Radek eyed the computer console, "No, all consciousness data was expunged before storage."

Lorne kept pushing, he really didn't like the idea of another McKay after spending some personal time with him off world, "Are you sure? Because the report said you and Dr. Grodin copied Dr. McKay, and that is one scary thought, doctor. We can barely handle the one."

"It was an accident, believe me. I cleared the data myself." Radek wasn't as sure anymore with himself; Dr. Garin Trelio did install quite a few redundancies like all Ancient technology…

"So there's no duplicate McKays running around? Because if there are, I'm going back to Earth."

Alexa was the voice of reason, "I'm sure there isn't, Major. But we'll investigate the console nonetheless, in addition to that security footage."

The trio packed up and left, intending to return with a cart to move Garin's computer up to one of the labs. Radek Zelenka took a look back, secretly hoping that nothing was going to come of someone's intrusion into the room, they had enough problems with that fissure on the ocean floor, not to mention the Wraith.

Xxx Xxx

"Seriously, you've been working at that thing for an hour and fifteen minutes now. Just let me-"

"No." Rodney stated firmly to his other self as he was in the back compartment of the submarine. He knew the systems, not the copy that was standing right behind him in Ronon's body.

"Damn it, what the hell are you so worried about, that I'm going to fuck something up worse than this situation already is? We are in a sinking sub without power and no way to contact Atlantis. Hell, check-in isn't for another twenty minutes so they don't even know something is wrong down here. Oh, I know, you're afraid that a 'less experienced' version of yourself will show you up? Newsflash, I am _you_, so we will both take the credit, alright?"

Rodney spun around angrily aiming his found flashlight at him, "_You_ are a fucking mistake. One Radek is going to pay for when _I_ get us out of here."

The comments ate at him and he got right up to Rodney's face, "You _know_ I don't want this! I can't take it! A few hours ago I was _dying_ and watched a psycho live my life for days."

Rodney couldn't take looking at himself reflected in Ronon anymore and turned back to the compartment he was working at, "Yes, well, you weren't the only one."

The duplicate Rodney took a deep breath, "Tell me Garin paid for this."

"He's gone, deleted, non-existent." Rodney waved his hand back at the other man.

"And I was supposed to be too." His voice was quiet.

"Yes, you were. I instructed Radek and Peter from my infirmary bed to get rid of …you as soon as possible. My mind had been messed with enough that week."

"I would have done the same, I suppose in a way I did? After all I was copied not so long before I'm sure you gave the order to have me erased. Damn, is that weird actually saying that aloud… I'm not real… oh my god. This whole thing sucks infinitely."

"That is an understatement. The whole problem surrounding you…me… plus a disabled submarine? It's like the universe is punishing me."

Ronon's eyes narrowed, "For what?"

"Destroying five-sixths of a solar system with an Ancient weapon."

"Really? That's… cool in a way. Amazing accomplishment, you have to tell me more about this."

"Some other time, work to do."

"Right, right."

-

John Sheppard had his eyes closed and felt the movement of the submarine, the downward movement. It was a rapid pace, much faster than the rate he was piloting it at and what it was immediately following the power failure. He turned to Teyla who was beside him, "Is it me, or is the sub accelerating?"

"I have noticed it also. It seems to be progressive, we do not have long until the bottom is reached. There is also a slight glow radiating from the bottom."

"Let's hope we don't get there."

"At this rate, we will be there. Your attempts at accessing the controls have failed, and Rodney hasn't been able to fix the relays. It is going to be a long day."

"You've got that right. I'm going to check on our two McKays… can't believe I just said that…"

Teyla shook her head, "Who would have ever thought this would happen?"

He stood as best he could, "No one in their right minds. Keep an eye out there and wish me luck."

Teyla nodded, "Good luck with the both of them," and he climbed up to the back of the sub.

John came across a sight he thought he would never see, Ronon Dex hovering over a working Rodney McKay looking extremely interested in what he was doing. "Any progress on those lights?"

"Hold on to your pants Colonel, I don't like being rushed." He kept moving several crystals around the control box.

"Sorry to break it to you, but we're heading to ocean floor faster than before. Haven't you noticed?"

The copied Rodney answered, "Of course. How could we not?"

John pressed, "Any ideas why?"

"Not at the moment." Rodney replaced a crystal and said, "There. That should do it."

The sides of the submarine began to glow a weak light blue, and grew more intense. The color also changed into more of a natural light.

John looked around at the now comfortably lit sub, "Cool, what you do?"

Rodney moved on to another panel and popped it open, "Got the emergency lights up and running. They work on completely separate system of course, and not nearly enough energy to power the sub, but at least we're not in the dark anymore and I have decent light to work by. I've also routed a bit to the life-support systems."

"Why weren't the lights on before?"

Ronon answered that one, "The trigger that would have activated them was also fried."

Teyla's voice called up from the front of the sub, "Colonel, Doctors, you should see this. It is most… fascinating and frightening."

The three men looked at each other and began to carefully make their way to what was now the bottom of the sub, as it was still extremely angled. They immediately saw what she was talking about.

"Crap." Rodney muttered. "Just what we needed, more things going wrong, horribly, terribly wrong."

"We don't know that yet." John retorted, "We only know that we can see the fissure, that it is glowing, and we're headed directly for a rather large rock."

Rodney snipped in Ronon's voice, "Rock? I'd say more like an enormous boulder projecting from the ocean floor."

"We have established that," Teyla eyed the rather formidable formation, "The question is what is to be done?"

Rodney noticed how fast they were heading towards the fissure, the ocean floor, and the boulder in their way, "Without power to the engines… nothing." He snipped angrily at life in general.

"Brace yourselves then." John held on to the side of the sub, the others found similar places to go.

Rodney kept going on, bitterness in his voice, "Nothing we do is going to help, the force of the impact alone-"

The other Rodney took over using Ronon's voice, "Will cause significant damage to the-"

John cut him off, "Shut up Rodney…both of you."

"Yes, please." Teyla nodded her head, looking straight ahead at the boulder that was now right in front of them.

The submarine went head first into the very top of the rock formation, throwing the team further into the front. It flipped over the top from the forward momentum, and rolled down the other side to come to a rest, the emergency lights flickering inside.

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, Queen Cliffie, that is a name I earned a couple months ago with _Assassin._

Might be awhile to update… life, college, etc interferes. But, I will try very hard to actually write and make it work. It's all in my overloaded head.

Comments? Electronic anything shall be sent in abundance for them!


	5. Trouble Down Under

**A/N's:** Chapter 4 reviewers…

_rogue1503_, you are evil. Just by asking for a sequel you have plotted a bunny in my head. A rather small one, but still, I have the first two chapters outlined for it (set in between these two, I do have five months to play with) and it's growing, gnawing at my leg along with the bunnies for this. Wait, what right do you have to do that to me? As Titan5 said 'get to work woman' on your own fics and not inspiring more and getting massages… :-D

Anyway the point was that this story sprung from a title my beta gave me and a review by _fanficaddict_ (glad you like the two Rodneys! Especially since you sparked this story, be proud! Boy am I glad I accept anonymous reviews) quoting Peter's line in Chapter 12 "The only thing it could do is make a copy of him." Then I edited the next chapters to make my sequel idea make sense… and here it is, Copy Rodney wreaking havoc. Well, not so much as the sub is wreaking havoc... or is it something else? Muahahaha you'll have to read and find out. So, asking for a sequel sometimes does get you one!

_Cpt. Ritter_, I had Copy Rodney used 'fuck' out of wrath then I figured the original would respond with the same anger, and let's face it, the character is a grown man, just can't swear on t.v. so it might sound odd out in fanfiction world. I've read a couple spectacular series/stories that use naughty language, so I don't think it really matters or degrades anything… Oh and Teyla was always my weakest character, you have caught on, I try though. I think this chapter is okay for her. This is quite a punishment for Ronon, isn't it?

_krysalys_ – so, cheering now? I hope so, I like to imagine people are cheering when a new chapter is posted.

_drufan_- I did mildly screw RL few times this week to do this, but I managed to get everything I needed to done, including paying my bill to the university Friday with an hour to spare or face a couple hundred dollars in late fees, eek that was close.

_fififolle_- the Lorne/Radek/Alexa bit was fun to write, I extended the last part of it at the last minute actually, post-beta.

Wow… I'm done now, sorry this A/N was so long!

* * *

**Chapter 5**_-Trouble Down Under_

Elizabeth Weir was in her office, meeting with one of the new scientists that arrived the previous day, a French anthropologist, Dr. Philippe Mauseu with an ATA gene comparative to Lt. Col. Sheppard's. It was one of her usual informal interviews she held to get to know the expedition members better, she didn't want to seem to them as if she was some untouchable figurehead.

Philippe leaned back in his chair to relax, "I have been warned, Dr. Weir, to watch out for Dr. McKay given my hereditary luck."

She smiled a little, "He can be quite persistent, but I don't think you'll have too much of a problem." She was referring to the Frenchman's 6'2" stature and athletic build, not to mention his wit that, given a chance, was so sharp it could slice a rock in two.

He returned the smile, "I have also been told that by Dr. Stroh."

Elizabeth recalled that Alexa Stroh never had many arguments with Rodney, in fact, he seemed to leave her well enough alone unless they were working on something at the same time. He would have Zelenka review her work instead. She always wondered why, not that it was a bad thing. She decided to investigate the situation at another occasion and returned to the conversation, "Oh, well then she and I are in agreement. I hope you'll like it here, once you're fully settled."

"I'm sure I will." The heavy-accented Frenchman leaned slightly forward towards the desk, and consequently Elizabeth. "It is a beautiful city."

She gave a subtle nod, holding her ground, "The magnificence of the place does make living under threat more bearable."

They were interrupted when her comm. link activated.

"_Dr. Weir?"_

She turned away from Dr. Mauseu, "Yes, Sergeant?"

"_Colonel Sheppard and his team have failed to report in at the scheduled time."_

"How late are they?"

"_Ten minutes, should I try reaching them?"_

"By all means." They were on an important mission, and she hoped they just lost track of time.

"_Be back with you in a moment, Ma'am."_

The comm. shut down, and she turned back to the doctor, "So, where were we?"

"Discussing the beauty of Atlantis."

_What is it with the French and beauty…_ "Yes, that's right." She was distracted by the team not checking in. It wasn't as if they could have gone anywhere out of reach.

"Being a diplomat, I assume you have traveled the world. Have you seen any city comparable to this one?"

"Earth does have spectacular cities of its own right, doctor, but this is on a completely different level. You are well-traveled yourself, have you visited one that could even compare to here?"

He chuckled, "When I travel, it's to remote corners of the planet, barely staying in a major city for more than a few hours. What I'm interested is buried in history and time."

Her reply was cut off before it began by her headset, _"Dr. Weir, I am getting no response on all channels."_

She kept her sigh to herself and turned her head away, "Keep trying at regular intervals, sergeant."

"_Yes, Ma'am."_

The link severed once again and Philippe spoke, concern and curiosity in his voice, "Anything the matter?"

Elizabeth folded her hands in her lap, "I hope not."

-

"This cannot be right." Radek was bent over his laptop in his own lab during Dr. Mauseu's interview with Dr. Weir. Alexa Stroh sitting next to him. It was reaching two hours since they first left for the storage room and almost a full one since they started going over the footage from the security cameras. Garin's console was sitting prettily over by a counter.

Alexa rested her elbow on his desk and propped up her chin with her hand, "Someone was obviously in there, they should have been caught."

"But they were not. Peculiar, isn't it?"

"Not as much as some other things I've heard about this place. Like a certain doctor with his own little factory somewhere?" She grinned.

Radek coughed, "No idea what you are talking about." The new people weren't supposed to know about his alcohol operation…must have leaked out.

"Right. Anyway, there has to be an explanation. I'll work in it, I'm sure Dr. Weir wants some new reports on that fissure since we haven't been able to find anything here. Has Sub 1 checked in yet?"

"Not that I know of," He stood. "I'll be in Control Room for a few minutes, then I'll be back to check Trelio's computer." He didn't want anyone else to, he and Peter Grodin were the ones that had actually studied it, so there was no one remaining but him and Rodney with previous experience.

"That will be fine."

He glanced back to see her beginning to go through the hours of footage again, not moving or seemingly intending to. He walked through the hall not thinking about leaving her alone in his lab, other than he strangely didn't want to go.

He entered the transporter at the end of the hall, pressed a coordinate, and the door closed. When it opened, he was outside the Control Room, the quickness of it was something that never ceased to amaze him. It made perfect sense though, that a race that built interstellar travel devices could devise one for a building, city, well really a spaceship.

Radek headed to where the main sensory consoles were, passing the young Sergeant on the way. He took the opportunity, "Anything from Sub 1 yet?"

The dark hair soldier turned around from the comm. console, "No, nothing yet, sir. I've been trying but I get no response."

Worry crept into Radek's expression, "Does Dr. Weir know?"

"Yes."

He walked to the consoles, activating his own headset, "Dr. Weir?"

"_Zelenka? I was about to contact you. The Colonel's team is out of communication."_

"I just found out. I'm going to run some scans of the fissure, I should be able to detect if anything is wrong with Sub 1, at least where it is."

"_Tell me what you find." She thought they were really accumulating problems that day. The fissure, the storage room that had Dr. Trelio's computer in it was intruded into, and now Sheppard, McKay, Teyla, and Ronon were playing hooky from check-ins._

"I always do."

With the link severed, he started business scanning the bottom of the ocean where the team was dispatched, thousands of meters under the surface, not on Atlantis's comparably shallow plateau.

---

Her eyes opened slowly and painfully, squinting around at the low and flickering light, and the floor of the submarine. She was on her stomach and felt the metallic surface, it seemed cold, and it was wet. Her head wasn't quite clear yet, the memories slowly coming back of the crash.

She pushed herself up, immediately noticing the pain radiating up from her left shoulder, so she used just the one. Then she saw that the floor was stained red. That's why it was wet, it wasn't water…

Teyla felt otherwise mostly fine and eyed the sub, Sheppard was crumpled in the corner next to McKay and Ronon was a few feet from them. All still had their eyes closed. She saw a line of blood coming from where the two members of the senior staff were laying.

She was sitting up, standing had somehow failed her, and she called out, "Colonel?" No answer. "Rodney?" None either. "Ronon?" Nope. She knew she had to get over there somehow and with right arm, pushed off the floor onto her legs successfully this time; they were stiff but were working. The crash just threw her around a bit.

It wasn't far to where the slow flow of blood was coming from, and she crouched on her tiptoes. But that hurt her knees so she opted to rest sitting down, where it was still clean. She gently checked over Rodney, the closer one to her, but couldn't immediately see any wound.

Then she saw John's head. Rather the back of it. His head was drooped forward and the back of it matted.

"Mmm…" She heard a deep breath coming from Rodney and then a hoarse cough. He automatically brought his hand up to his mouth and after a moment's fit opened his eyes, looked at his hand, and muttered in a bit of shock, "Blood…"

"Rodney?"

He looked up and rubbed his eyes with his left hand, "Teyla, are you okay, the Colonel? Ronon?" He hissed at his next breath, pain pricking throughout his chest area. "Oh god, that hurts… I …" He turned his head to his right and saw John laying there and his face fell, forgetting his own pain.

"I haven't had the chance to look at him closely, but he does have a head wound."

Rodney pushed himself up, and fell back to the ground, Teyla rushing to his aid, "No," He gently pushed her away, "Just get me-" another bloody cough, "the med kit from the back. Can you?"

"I'm fine, it's only a sore shoulder. Do not move." She turned and headed over for Ronon. She checked him all over carefully but couldn't find anything wrong with him, at least on the surface.

As she was walking to the back of the submarine where Dr. Beckett had rather ample kits placed, she heard Rodney talking to John.

"Colonel, come on…Damn it, don't play around." Another cough, "I can feel you have a pulse…Colonel… John… damn it…"

She then heard some scuffling and him continuing, "Hey, you, copy me. Wake your lazy ass up…" The coughing continued, this time it seemed worse, "No? Then fine. Ronon, helooo, Ronon, I'm sure you want your body back, though I don't know why you'd want it right now, being ban-" He was stopped by a violent cough, and suddenly Teyla was at his side, a cloth in hand and she placed it up to his mouth.

"You should not exert yourself." He stopped coughing and she pulled the cloth back, the front side was almost covered in blood.

Rodney plopped against the wall, now between Ronon and John as Teyla attended to the Colonel, "I know." He closed his eyes and set his head back, talking in between breaths, "Chest… really… hurts…"

After wrapping John's head, the only thing she felt she could do at the moment, she pulled out some pain-killers from the kit and prepped Rodney's arm.

"What…are…you…doing?"

"I would assume you would like to not be in so much pain."

"Oh, of course…" He coughed again, his legs coming up. "I really don't…" He would usually be ranting about how much he hurt, but talking hurt more so he opted to say as little as possible now.

Teyla gave Rodney his pain-killers and wondered how they would get out of there. It was then she noticed the heat, and how close they were to the glowing red fissure.

---

"Dr. Weir!"

She looked up from her laptop to see Dr. Zelenka rushing in her office, wispy hair blowing back, a computer pad in hand. "What is it?"

"I've just finished with the scans," He turned the pad to her, "It is not good."

She looked them over, the numbers and sequences honestly not making much sense instantaneously, "I'm looking at what, exactly?"

"Oh, the city's scanners are being increasingly distorted, especially close to the ocean floor, but I have still been able to decipher the temperature is rising." His face lowered into an even more worried expression, "I cannot locate Sub 1 either."

"No where at all?" Her face tightened to not betray her emotions.

"At first I scanned the projected location where they should be and found nothing. Then I widened the search, nothing. They would have to be on or near the bottom where the sensors are being interfered with, but at the fastest rate the submarine can function at, I don't know how they got there so quickly."

Elizabeth took a breath, "I know its sensors were being altered before, but how about the Daedalus, would it be capable of detecting them?"

"It is different systems, worth an attempt."

"I'll contact Col. Caldwell." She turned to leave her office, being stopped by Radek's voice.

"Dr. Weir, there's more."

"More? Well, go on."

"Dr. Stroh and I have been analyzing the security footage from 27D, we have still been unable to find anything. I'm on my way back to my lab to check over Trelio's console."

Elizabeth arched her eyebrow, "You don't think it was used by the person, do you?"

"Well, it's a possibility I want to look over."

"Understood."

They both left her office in compatible silence and headed their separate ways, Zelenka to his lab and Dr. Weir to the communications console on the Control Room balcony.

She had the Sergeant open a channel to the Daedalus, "Colonel Caldwell?" He had been unable to attend the briefing that morning due to a minor unexpected situation on his ship, but had been filled in about the situation.

After a brief moment a voice came through, _"What can I do for you today, doctor?" He walked down the hall that headed to the bridge with one of his more senior crew._

She sensed the subtle sarcasm in his voice, "Lt. Col. Sheppard and his team have gone missing on their mission. All attempts at communication have been unresponsive and Atlantis's sensors have been unable to locate them."

"_You would like us to attempt to establish their location." He strolled onto the bridge._

"If you would be so kind." She always felt like they were playing cat-and-mouse.

"_My ship's resources are at your disposal. We'll do all we can to find them. Caldwell out."_

---

"What are you doing?" Rodney pushed Teyla's prying hands away.

"I need to see if there's anything I can do for you, you're not doing so well. You should sit down." She didn't have a hard time before when she made him drink some water and eat a little.

He kept fiddling with a panel under the front console, "Oh and who is going to fix this? Hmm?" He was stopped by a wet cough, and continued, "I don't know if _you've_ noticed but the Colonel is still unconscious, not to mention mega-me over there." The panel popped open and he sat down in front of it anyway, aware that was what she wanted.

She looked at the scientist, his color pale, skin sweating but eerily cold, clammy, and he looked overall sick. Not a good look on him. John looked the same and he had a rapid pulse. They had laid him out on the floor next to Ronon who had a regular and strong pulse, but neither would wake up. John's head was on her bundled jacket, Ronon's on the one Rodney had discarded from the uncomfortable temperature.

"And what is it you're doing?" She knelt by the Colonel's side in the still flickering light from the emergency power and started gently stroking his forehead.

"Seeing what is wrong with the-" Yet another cough, "Damn it… the life-support. It's connected with the emergency power just in case the main systems faulted. I thought I fixed it before. The crash must have messed with it." He was worried about the rising temperature of the submarine, if they were going to die, it was going to be in a nice air-conditioned place, not boiling like in hell. A very strange hell. Maybe the universe was punishing him after all.

"The fissure is still emitting heat, how much would that help?"

He kept working, "It's all that we've got at the moment, so just let me-" He coughed once more, using a new cloth to wipe his blood-stained lips.

Teyla's worry was escalating with every cough from Rodney, they was definitely something wrong with his lungs and chest. There wasn't anything to do about it though, not without an infirmary. The same for John and Ronon, they needed to get back to Atlantis, but it wasn't looking as if that would ever happen. But she would continue to have hope, or they would have nothing.

She found something good to be thankful for, "At least there are no leaks."

Rodney scoffed, "Yea. That would be all we need right now. The subs themselves were built to withstand a great force, but it didn't help us much."

Teyla looked down at John, who she know had his head resting on her leg, "That is obvious."

Rodney stood slowly, quickly grabbing the console to steady himself from the onset of dizziness, "I have to go to the back again."

"I'll come with you." She rested John's head back on her jacket gingerly and stood, torn between wanting to stay close to him and watching over Rodney.

"If you insist." He began the walk, it was easier in one aspect since the sub was resting evenly on the ocean floor, but now he felt like he was well, thrown around a sub.

Teyla kept her arm poised behind him, ready to assist if he collapsed. They took a few steps, Teyla glancing back at the two unconscious men, when Rodney started to sway a little. She braced her arm around his waist to steady him, and if he noticed he didn't hint at it.

They approached the panels Rodney had been working on before the crash at the bottom and he pulled a crystal out to examine it, Teyla right behind him. She knew she was lucky that she did not get injured too much, only her left shoulder was throbbing, most likely by getting slammed against something. Nothing she couldn't handle.

"Aha!" Rodney exclaimed as the emergency lights stabilized. "Life-support is back online through where I rerou-" He dug for the cloth from his back pocket and coughed into it.

Teyla placed her hand gently on his shoulder as he continued, "Rerouted from emergency before. Just a minor connection problem." He paused for a cough, "But there has to be a way to bypass the main power conduit without the two bypasses I know of… there is power in the generators but no way to get it to engines or even communications. I'm sure if I had time, lots of time I could figure it out, but that's one thing we don't have."

"I have faith in you."

He was taken aback a bit, "Oh, thanks Teyla." He suddenly started heaving and coughing, the white cloth was quickly becoming completely red.

She still had her hand oh his shoulder, put the other on his back, and guided him to a corner, there being no seats but the four in the front and she didn't think he would make it at that moment, "Lie down, you need to."

He couldn't respond through the most violent and bloody fit he had yet, and sat against the wall. Teyla quickly went and got another cloth and put it to his mouth. He grabbed it gratefully, but by then the coughs were dry and his chest hurt from it. His throat was protesting, but he couldn't stop.

Her eyes fell back to the front of the sub at John and Ronon and wondered how they were all going to stay alive stranded at 20,170 meters underwater, but knew she wouldn't let any one of them die.

* * *

**A/N:** You've probably noticed I have become a bit of a whumper, I just can't seem to help it.

Until the next time… leave me something!


	6. 1 2101 Leagues Under the Sea

**A/N: **Okay, I know it has been a week and a day, but hey, RL is being a bitch. Thanks to all for the reviews, they help to get me through.

**

* * *

Chapter 6**_- 1.2101… Leagues Under the Sea_

Rodney McKay opened his eyes with a start to stare at a whitewashed ceiling.

He blinked at the sight, forcing his eyes to come to a focus in the harsh glare. When they did, he realized that is really was not a ceiling, it was more like empty space.

White, empty space.

_Damn it._

Sitting up from his position of laying on his back, he took in the surroundings to the left and right of him – the all-too-familiar expanse of a world of nothing.

He sighed heavily upon the recognition of where he was, not wanting to believe he was trapped again. He had been through this not that long ago. Though of course, this time he knew he was the invader.

He was pleased as much as he could be as he looked down at his clothes and found they consisted of his uniform. Finally, he was back in a normal outfit. After brushing his hand over his own short hair (he thought thankfully that they were not the dreadlocks that irritated him silently before), he groaned quietly and wondered if he was alone, or if he was imprisoned with a man he had never met.

He peeked behind him and laying only a few feet away was a man dressed in the tank top and leather-like pants McKay had found himself waking up to the last time.

He was on his back, stretched out in the same position Rodney had woken up in, but wasn't moving.

Rodney pulled himself to his feet, calling out, "Hey, Ron… Ronuin… no… Ronon, you up?" He walked the few feet over the bare ground and started to prod Ronon in the side with his foot. Gently at first, then after a few moments without a reaction, his prodding became more violent.

"Why won't you just wake up, huh? You go walking around where you don't belong and now you're just sleeping…" After a few more minutes, or what seemed like minutes, without eliciting movement or sound, he stopped.

It was then he recalled words spoken to him only a few hours before, maybe longer (he wasn't really sure time existed in the mind like out in reality) from his perspective, but it still seemed like an eternity-

"_I woke lying down and you were lying where you were. Nothing I attempt to control seems to work."_

Memories of the conversation he had with the mad Ancient after they had woken up in an exact duplicate of his present position filled his head. Neither of them could do anything nor hurt each other. They had been stuck because his body had taken too much trauma and displaced them.

_Great._

He had never asked Garin Trelio how long he had waited around until he woke up, he had been too angry, but judging by finding the Ancient sprawled on his back, it must have been awhile. He must have gotten sick of standing around.

"Ah, crap." Rodney sighed, hating being in the place of Garin Trelio, and hating the situation. He knew the crash was the reason he was stuck back into a white world and speculated about what the hell he had done to piss the universe off so much that it had it out for him – crashing two Ancient vehicles with him in them.

The other Rodney McKay, the real one… did destroy five-sixths of a solar system, but that wasn't _him_, it wasn't fair to punish _him_ for that, or the Ma- err Colonel, or Teyla, or even this new guy that was still out like a light. Okay, maybe Ronon did deserve a sort of punishment for snooping where he didn't belong, as Rodney assumed (they really didn't know yet), but to punish everyone… it just wasn't fair.

He sunk to the ground, having nowhere to go, nothing to do. But being restless, he stood back up and started to pace anxiously, thoughts of what was the past week to him were biting at his mind, refusing to retreat and leave him alone.

_He heard himself say, "Unfortunate? Two Ancients are dead, I'm dying, and Kate has Elana in her mind. I cannot understand what would posses you to do this! You can't go around doing these things. A Wraith took your wife from you, yes, but we have lost some damn good people to the Wraith too," He remembered how his voice cracked, "so you believing you can do whatever you want is incredibly dense."_

"_You have no idea what I have been through at the hands of the Wraith so keep silent about it or I swear I WILL COME OVER THERE AND SILENCE YOU MYSELF!" _

_Rodney in what was passing as real-life for the moment instinctively took a step back as a phantom Garin stepped towards him, "YOU TOLD ME! Your wife was killed by one!"_

"_Do you believe that is all they did? They took my life, McKay, not directly by feeding on me, but by feeding on the ones I loved! I could not let Elana go, she was the only thing that kept me going after …"_

"_After what?" Rodney couldn't shake the bizarre vision from his mind, it was like watching himself in a dream, but he was inside his own body… watching._

"_Nothing you need to know about."_

"_It's not like we're going anywhere! So you might as well tell me."_

"_Let it rest McKay. I am asking you politely."_

"_Politely? You took over my body!"_

"_I am aware of that fact."_

"_Well, what else did they do?"_

_Phantom Garin looked straight into Rodney's eyes and slowly stated, "They took my son. A seven year old boy. Are you satisfied now?" He stepped away and vanished into nothingness._

Rodney shook his whole body and looked around, Ronon was still laying there. He couldn't feel sympathy for the Ancient. He resolved he never would. If he made it off the bottom of the ocean that is. But then what would happen?

---

"Damn…this…sub…" Rodney took a sip of water to soothe his throat from the previous coughing fit as Teyla went to the front to check on Colonel Sheppard and Ronon. He wondered how she could remain so calm and collected through all of this.

He was in bad shape, really bad shape. He knew it. But he was awake, unlike John. So he deduced that he was in better health, which frightened him the most about the situation. That was saying a lot, as they were thousands of meters under the surface of the ocean in a disabled submarine and next to some sort of super-heated-tectonic plate-gone-crazy.

After calculating the odds that they would get back to Atlantis alive, he got even more depressed. It wasn't looking good. But his mind kept going over the schematics of the vehicle; he had to be missing something, something that would aid in the repairs.

It wasn't long before Teyla came back, and checked him over again, "I've cleaned the front section some. Do you need anything from there?" She avoided mentioning how she cleaned up the Colonel's blood.

"Yea, my work-pad. There are the schematics on there."

"I'll only be a moment."

He watched out of the corner of his eye as she left, thinking of all he knew about the submarine, and trying to block out the pain in his chest and throat. All he wanted was to be in the infirmary, in a nice warm bed, with some of Carson's happy-drugs, dreaming of a blonde on a beach. Actually, to be on a beach with a blonde. It certainly was approaching the temperature of the tropics in there.

His train of thoughts was broken when Teyla gently handed him the small computer.

---

He was lying on his back, eyes closed, hands folded on his stomach, and fighting back images of the past week. Of watching helplessly as his life was taken over by a ten-thousand and some odd year-old Ancient. Of the imitation Gateroom he was in for days, of orange couches, of the fighting in the other white expanse, and of the crashing of the Jumper. All he wanted to do was wake up, leave that place.

Then he felt himself being pulled.

The air sucking into his lungs was warm and had a tinge of a smell he couldn't quite place. It was some what metallic, but smoky… The thoughts running through his head were jumbled now, at first he remembered a white expanse… meeting someone… and then the Jumper… how it dove into the hill… but that wasn't right, he was in a submarine this time that crashed into a rock formation with Major Sheppard…wait, Colonel Sheppard, and Teyla…

He felt the warm floor through the back of his shirt and his head resting on something. Moving was posing a problem, after not being conscious (with a real body) for awhile, his limbs were heavy and he struggled to separate reality from the borderline dream of a few moments ago. He heard his own voice, adding to the surrealism of the space between consciousness and unconsciousness.

"I really need to get over there." Rodney said quietly, but demanding nonetheless.

"In your condition, it is best that you stay resting and instruct me."

That was Teyla… she sounded so far away. And was he talking? The copied Rodney then recalled fully what happened in the submarine. He kept listening, expecting to hear Colonel Sheppard at any moment.

"It would be too difficult to explain. Just help me up."

"Rodney, stay still."

"Hey, I'm the only resident genius on this sub; I should be fixing this thing. If it is fixable that is, but I'm not-" The copied Rodney heard a terrible cough and then Rodney continuing, "not going to just lie here like a worthless sack of-" Another cough. Where was the Colonel in all of this?

He found his voice, "I can do it." It was only barely more audible than a whisper, but Teyla's conditioned ear picked it up.

In what seemed like a moment, he could feel a hand on his forehead, "Ronon?"

"Uh, no. Sorry to disappoint you."

She was glad to see one of the two men, there was a little more hope now, "It's alright. How are you feeling?"

He scoffed in Ronon's voice as he opened his eyes to see her bending over him, "You're really asking me that?"

"You have been unconscious for some time, where do you hurt?"

He hadn't actually noticed it until she brought it up, but now he did, "Head. Hurts like hell, but I think I can sit up." He used his arms to push his upper body to a sitting position, and then noticed John lying next to him, head bandaged and resting on a blue jacket.

Teyla anticipated his question, "He has also been out since the crash."

He snipped worriedly, "Fabulous. How about, uh…" He nodded his head to the back of the sub where he heard their voices coming from.

"His condition is also bad."

"How bad?" He slowly stood, careful not to fall over from the onset of a dizzy spell, and aware of Teyla at his side.

"I suspect internal injuries."

Rodney went off, "This is one horrible day. First of all, I'm watching as a seriously screwed up Ancient masquerades as me, is chased through Atlantis, escapes though I fight like hell, we crash, wake up, there's more fighting, then I wake up five months later, but only moments to me, in a body that's not mine only to have a sub crash with me in it. We're all banged up at the bottom of an ocean. What else is going to happen me!"

"We cannot predict the future, only hope to inspire it for the good."

"You always were the calm one. How do you do it?"

Teyla let a small smile pierce her lips as she let Rodney stand alone in Ronon's body, "It stems from patience and years of leading my people." She bent down to John's level and gently checked the back of his head.

"How's he doing?" He looked over the military man, how pale and clammy he looked.

"His wound has stopped bleeding some time ago," she put two fingers to his neck, "and his pulse has steadied."

"So better than before I take it?"

"Yes. As are you." She brushed John's cheek with the back of her hand.

He looked down at her then towards the back of the sub where a muffled cough could be heard, "But the original over there is getting worse?"

"Correct. I should get back to him." But she didn't move.

"I'll just go; someone should stay with M- Colonel Sheppard." He knew she must have been going back and forth since the crash.

Teyla looked up at him with tired, but strong eyes, "Alright."

It was a brief walk to the back of the submarine, he silently thanked that it was level and he didn't see any water seeping in. That would have been a little too cliché for his tastes. Like one of those corny science fiction movies that his sister Jeannie was always into.

He saw himself resting against the right wall, eyes closed, taking short breaths, and not looking good at all. On his lap rested a computer pad that looked worse for wear.

"Hey. Sleeping on the job again, huh?"

The original McKay, and the true one as far as he was concerned recognized the eerie tone of his own personality in Ronon's voice, "Oh shut up, would you? Genius in pain here."

"Excuse me, just thought that you'd be on your way to getting this thing up-and-running."

"I would be if I could stand."

"What are you talking about?"

He coughed into a cloth, "Hard to stand for long without help. Head's spinning, you're a little blurry, and oh yea, I'm coughing up blood!"

"Hey, don't get all snappy on me, _McKay_." He walked over to the open panel and started fiddling around.

"What are you doing?"

"We have to get this sub moving."

"We, since when is there a we?" He coughed again.

His copy went back over and picked up the canteen for him, creeped out that he was nursing _himself_.

"I'm the one that's going to be solving this problem, just sit over there." The original, and he thought the best, Rodney waved his copy away.

The other Rodney glared using Ronon's face at who he had been told was his true self, angry and frustrated at the reality he was being faced with. It was completely unfair, he never asked for this. But he wasn't just going to sit on his ass and let someone else work on getting them out of this. "I'm helping, and it's not as if you can get up by yourself, you admitted it."

McKay stared at Ronon and recognized his own determination and stubbornness, but brought up a fact, "You don't know these systems as I do."

Ronon-Rodney stood back up and crossed his arms, "I'm a quick study, but you know that don't you?"

"Working together would be beneficial."

The two McKays turned their heads to see Teyla standing there.

The alternate version of Rodney asked what was on the two men's minds, "How's the Major," he snapped his fingers, "err, Colonel? I'm never going to get used to that."

"The same as before."

The two men didn't know whether to be relieved that he wasn't getting worse, or disappointed that he stopped getting better. The healthy McKay turned back to the one on the ground, "Let's get working, shall we?"

"Alright, fine. I'll talk you through. The life-support is running, though it's having some problems with the heat-" He paused for a cough and continued, "still have to find a way to direct main power to communications and the engines, other than the two bypasses because those are fried."

Upon seeing that things were as good as they good be in the back of the sub, Teyla left the two scientists talking, as the Colonel had called it, techno babble, and went back to where John was lying.

She stopped and stared.

He was rubbing his face with his left hand.

"Colonel?"

"Mmm." Was his answer, he was still between being awake and unconscious.

Her legs working again, she quickly knelt on one knee by his side, "Come on, open your eyes now."

"I don't want to."

She smirked at his response, "Well, we can't all have what we want. Do you remember anything?"

She watched as his eyes fluttered open and searched around him, "We crashed." He felt the bandage, "Head wound, huh?"

"Yes."

"So, I've been out then?"

"You have, I was getting worried there for a little while."

He mocked, "Just a little while? That hurts. I thought you liked me."

She smiled a bit, glad to have him back, "How are you feeling? Can you sit up?"

"Head hurts…I can try." His eyes scanned the floor around him as he pushed up, "Hey, what's that?"

"What?"

"Under the pilot's chair."

Teyla narrowed her eyes and went over to where John had mentioned and pulled out a small, red-pear shaped device. "That is a good question." She went back and showed it to him.

"He _brought_ that thing? Christ, he would."

"Care to elaborate, Colonel?"

"Oh, yea. Rodney has been working on trying to get me to activate that for the past couple days. He can't and it was driving him crazy, being the workaholic that he is."

She grabbed another canteen from the packs she had stacked back where they belonged and handed it to him, watching as he slowly started drinking, "And you will not help him?"

He brought the canteen down, "Not after the last device I touched for him. The hair incident."

"That was some time ago."

"I'm still wary of his research projects. No crime in that. Where is he anyway?"

"In the back, with the other Rodney."

"He's still hanging around?"

"They're working on getting the submarine functioning." She set the small device down by the gear. "Our Rodney is not doing well. His condition is deteriorating, I'm afraid if we don't get back to the city that we will be reduced to three."

"Four actually." John started to stand, Teyla pulled him to his feet by his right arm and it took a moment for him to stop swaying, the loss of blood made him dizzy. "Let's take a field trip."

The two walked through the middle blast doors, John supported by Teyla for most of the short way. John blinked at the sight of Rodney sitting on the floor, looking too close to white for his comfort, and Ronon standing at a panel, working. They were talking in their own language all scientists seemed to have learned, so engrossed they didn't turn their heads.

"What's a soldier have to do to get some attention around here?"

The two looked over and saw him with his arm around Teyla's shoulders, trying not to lean on her.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, for how long, I have no idea." The original Rodney coughed.

John countered, "That's comforting, Rodney, thank you." He eyed the man, he really didn't look good.

"He's just saying that at the rate we're going we're not going to fix this in time. It's just impossible. What did you do, anyway?" The copy McKay slammed the panel shut angrily, not really at the Colonel, but in general.

"Hey! All I did was hit the comm. system."

He snipped back, "That evidently sent a power surge through the whole system, and you ignored the automated warning."

The original Rodney was happy to just let his copy express his frustrations, talking for the last few minutes non-stop took a lot out of him.

Teyla tried to ease the situation, "None of us had a way of knowing this would happen."

John went on directing his speech at copy McKay, "Two heads are better than one, but what about Dex, we can't just-"

"I don't exactly know how I got control, so relinquishing it is more than a minor problem Maj- Colonel."

John teased, "My rank isn't that hard to remember."

"When one just wakes up from what _I_ have been through, those details aren't a priority."

John pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead, "I think I need to sit down." The world suddenly got extremely blurry and his head was swirling.

"Back to the front?" Teyla felt him lean on her.

"It doesn't matter; I just really need to sit." He sunk down to the ground before they could turn around and leaned against the wall where the blast door would close. "Shouldn't Atlantis know there's something wrong down here yet?"

Teyla took the opportunity to sit down for the first time since she woke up, "We missed the first check-in a fair amount of time ago. But it would be a couple hours before another team would reach us down here."

John thought about the situation, stranded with two McKays, "Perfect."

* * *

**A/N:** Atlantis shall be back in the picture next chapter, don't worry. As always, feed the bunnies! 


	7. Atlantis, We Have a Problem…a few

**A/N: ** Hey everyone, been a week, how's it going? Didn't forget about me? No? Ok, good.

**Disclaimer**: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is soo not mine. Wish it was. It's Jules Verne's as if you didn't know. I love that book, a certain character here, not so much.

* * *

**Chapter 7**_-Atlantis, We Have a Problem…a few_

"Ai! laurie lanter lassi surinen!" Hermiod muttered as he sat at his elevated station onboard the Daedalus in the engineering room.

"Uh, what is it?" Dr. Novak asked, wishing she knew the Asgard language but on second thought realized it wasn't necessary to know what he was saying.

"We have a complication." He blinked and glanced back down, "Several."

Lindsey walked over and took a look at the screen, "Can that be right?"

Hermiod turned his head, "Azg…" but stopped going off and replied, "It is."

She backed a step away from the temper-prone Roswell grey, as a few of the staff liked to call him when he wasn't around, and activated the communication system to the bridge, "Colonel Caldwell, This is Novak in engineering."

"_Go ahead, Doctor. I've been waiting for your report."_

"Well, you're not going to like this, sir."

"_I won't know that unless you tell me." He sat in his chair on the bridge anticipating what she was going to say, it was implied in her voice. If there was one thing he knew, it was how to read his crew. A captain had to have that skill in times of danger._

Novak fought back a hiccup that she thought she had overcame and proceeded to relate to him what Hermiod had now displayed on the large screen.

---

"Hey, you didn't nod off, did you?" Alexa Stroh set down a cup on a small stand next to Radek who had propped his head up with his arm.

He jolted his eyes open at the sound of her accented voice, "No, my eyes are tired from staring at this screen so much." He motioned to the display on Garin Trelio's computer.

"Mmhmm. I leave for fifteen minutes and you slack off." She smirked as she drank from the cup she brought for herself.

"That is not true. I was going to thank you for the coffee, but after that remark, I don't believe I should." He stirred the coffee with the little red straw she put in. He smelled something other that coffee that he couldn't place.

"Next time you can fetch your own then. The thanks I get for going through the trouble of adding a little something." She responded light-heartedly.

"What are you talking about?" He eyed the black coffee, now noticing it shined a little green when the light hit it.

Alexa sat down at his desk where she was still reviewing the surveillance footage, "Try it."

He kept an eye on her as he took a tentative sip and tasted it slowly. His eyebrow raised as he recognized the flavor, "Anise?"

"No. Well, in a way, but it's much more than that."

He took another sip, "Mint… wormwood…Alexa! You didn't !" His eyes glazed with astonishment, apprehension, and amazement.

"Ahh, you have it now, then?"

"Absinthe! How did you… but we're _working_!"

She held back a laugh, "For one, it's not actually absinthe, there is no alcohol. It is my own concoction. I'm saving the real bottle."

Radek let himself relax, "I was going to get angry at you if this coffee was spiked. But since it isn't, I won't." He smiled at the thought of past memories.

"Good to know. And it is also interesting how from two sips you recognized the flavor." She organized a few notes she had.

"I grew up in Prague, there are many places that serve it. You said you made a non-alcohol version? How?" He shut down the console, having found nothing to signify anything different about it.

"I have my brewing secrets, you have yours. I can't make it here without the ingredients so I have a limited supply of it, and of course the real bottle." She started to play the footage where she had stopped it.

"One of these days I'll figure you out. Never thought you'd be a drinker." He stood and retrieved a small kit from the back of a cabinet.

She kept her eyes on the screen, "Only in moderation. Getting drunk is for young people in college."

Back over at Garin's console, he opened the kit, "We do have important things to do." He pulled out a small brush and a tin of power and began dusting the panel.

She saw him out of the corner of her eye, "Resorting to lifting fingerprints?"

"What must be done, must be done." He cut a piece of film to just fit on the hand-sized panel and carefully applied it to avoid air bubbles.

Alexa was quiet so as not to disturb him. If the first attempt was foiled, there wouldn't be another one. He lifted the material off and put the protective covering on it.

He lifted it to the light and said quietly, "This is going to be interesting."

"Why?"

"Well, before we put it in storage, we didn't clean the panel."

"Fingerprints wouldn't last thousands of years." Her eyes were still focused on her own work.

"But they would last months."

Alexa barely heard his last comment as she rewound the footage a few seconds and went through frame by frame. "Now _that_ is interesting. Can't believe we didn't see that before…"

Radek set the film down in a folder and walked over to her, "See what?"

"Here, in the bottom right corner," She went back a few frames and forward one. "Did you catch that?"

"Yes. Camera malfunction I would assume."

"Maybe a power surge?"

"Run a power diagnostic. Simpson should be free to help. I'm going to run these prints, if we're not going to get anything from the footage, it could be our only lead."

"Alright. I'll tell Dr. Weir." The assumption of Chief Scientist duties Radek was displaying didn't get lost on her. It was what he always did when McKay was away, at his approval.

---

Elizabeth was walking down hallway towards the science quadrant when she spied a certain French anthropologist coming out of a door at the end. He was coming her way and waved at her, she waved back and without it seeming she was changing directions, turned right down a different hallway. He was one thing she didn't have time to fight off at this particular moment.

She heard her headset click, _"Dr. Weir, it's Stroh."_

"I was just going to check on your progress. How is it?"

"_I've come across a twenty minute skip in the security footage; I want to run a power diagnostic with Simpson."_

"You have my permission."

"_Thank you. Zelenka is on his way to analyze the fingerprints he lifted from Garin Trelio's computer."_

"Sounds as if you have it under control."

"_Yes, ma'am. Anything from the Daedalus yet?"_

"No, I expect to hear something any moment." She continued to move down the hall, nodding to other Expedition members as she went.

"_I will keep you updated on what we find." Alexa walked into the lab where she knew Simpson would be working in that day._

"As would be expected. I want this solved."

"_I do as well. It's very odd."_

"Not as bizarre as a few other things we've been through."

"_That is true. Hopefully it stays that way."_

"Somehow I doubt it. These situations always find a way to surprise me. Until later, Weir out."

The link shut down and Elizabeth took another right, passing by the wall of windows that overlooked the ocean below, where she had sent AT:1 under only a few hours earlier. She diverted her eyes and made sure she looked straight ahead.

It was always hard, knowing that any team she sent out might not come back, but it was a feeling shoved back behind the daily activities of keeping the city functioning. She knew she was fooling herself if she pretended the particular team that was out of communication didn't mean more to her.

Dr. Weir walked into the transporter and exited outside her office, where a stack of work was waiting for her when her headset clicked again.

"_Dr. Weir, it's Colonel Caldwell."_

She turned into her office and closed the door behind her, heart picking up pace in anticipation, "Yes, Colonel? What news do you have?"

"_I'm afraid we have been unable to locate Sub 1. Hermiod and Dr. Novak have informed me our sensors are continuing to be distorted."_

"That is not what I wanted to hear."

"_It gets worse. They have also informed me the area surrounding the fissure where the sensors could not detect anything has increased since this morning."_

"If we can't detect them, we can't use the Asgard transportation technology to beam them out."

"_Unless they decide to radio in any time soon. Hermiod could then use the radio to locate them."_

"If it's not distorted, and if they can get through."

"_Sounds like we're playing a what-if game here, Doctor. I'll have my crew continue to work on this problem."_

"We'll be in touch, Colonel. Thank you."

"_It's what we're here for. Caldwell out."_

She humphed after the link was deactivated, he sounded sincere. She thought about how he wanted to take military command of Atlantis, but he was above wanting to get it through the loss of the main team. She remembered the first trip back from Earth when it seemed as if John and Rodney went too close to that star and they lost communication with them, she saw the downcast look in Stephen Caldwell's eyes and how he diverted his gaze from his crew. Interesting.

She opened a direct link, "Zelenka, it's Dr. Weir. We have news."

---

"How's it going Rodney…'s?" John looked up from his sitting position in between the front and back section at the copy standing by the wall fiddling around and over at the original who was becoming more and more quiet.

"Given the fact that we're still stranded without communication 20,170 meters below the ocean's surface. I'd say not good. At all." The mega-McKay as the other had dubbed him responded harshly.

"1.2101… leagues." Rodney said as he was picking at his shirt sleeve.

"Hmm?" Copied McKay wiped sweat from his brow, the heat having increased over the past few minutes.

"1.210103192 nautical leagues. Verne was an idiot…" He stopped for a now persistent dry cough, "20,000 leagues my ass, never even went that far…" His eyes fluttered closed and opened again.

Teyla and John looked at each other, Teyla shaking her head gently to warn John not to go too far in his retort.

He commented, "Never read that book."

"Don't. Read it as a kid, expected Nemo to get to 20,000… only reached 4… false advertising." He didn't have any eye contact as he spoke, still absent mindedly picking at his sleeve.

"Not everything can be what it seems on the surface." Teyla responded as the alternate version of Rodney McKay moved to the front of the submarine, keeping quiet, but listening to every word. He seemed to be slowing down a bit.

"But when you title a book '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' you shouldn't start the sub collapsing at 4." He mumbled, following up with another cough.

"It collapsed?" John's eyebrow raised.

"No, would have been a better ending though."

John looked around at their own sub hearing a subtle creek, "I prefer happy endings."

"You know how much he went to describing every little organism he came across?"

"Why don't you tell me?" He wanted to keep Rodney talking, no matter what he was ranting about.

"Every crease…color…shape…scratch, felt like I was reading a marine biologist's thesis…" His head tipped forward.

"Rodney?" Teyla asked, also knowing they needed to keep him awake, not knowing if he had a concussion or not.

"Hmm, what?"

Teyla prodded, "You were saying."

"Saying what?"

John responded, "Verne, biologists, little creatures…"

"Oh right…some glowed…some shimmied…" his eyelids closed again as he went silent.

"Rodney? Stay with us, don't make me order you."

He gave no answer to the Colonel's prompt and Teyla swiftly went to him.

She picked up his wrist, felt his neck, and checked under his eyelids. She nodded back to John, signifying a short answer.

It was the one he hoped it would be. He saw and heard something fall in the front of the sub by Ronon and he started to stand.

Teyla scowled at him, "Do you think that is a good idea?"

"It's only a few feet. Stay here with our Rodney." He used his hand to brace himself on the opened dividing doors and walked the few steps into the front, Teyla keeping a disapproving eye on him the whole time.

He saw him standing with a large cover to the front console looking rather lost, "Rodney?"

"Yup, still here, for some reason." He looked up to see the Colonel and the look in his eyes, "What's going on?" He set the cover on the ground, unable to re-attach it.

"He's not awake anymore."

Copied Rodney sighed, rubbing Ronon's large hand across his face, "Not what I was hoping there."

"Me neither. How are you … doing?"

"If you're talking about our present situation, I think it sucks. Well, the overall suckiness is a fact. If you're talking about my particular problems, well, that's another matter altogether."

"So you're holding up then?"

His anger rose, "Holding up? I finally get my mind separated from that psycho's only to find myself being an invader? And I'm supposed to be _holding up_? If I wasn't so damn busy, I'd…"

"You'd what?"

Copy-Rodney got suspiciously quiet, "I don't know." He rubbed his abdomen.

"Yes you do." John sat down in the seat behind the pilot's seat.

"For once, I don't. This is bizarre, even for Atlantis. How did… umm…"

"You deal with the Trelio incident after?"

"Yea. What happened?"

"The first week after he woke up was in the infirmary was strangely fine. It all didn't hit until after Beckett released him. It wasn't… pretty for a while. It took time, but he got through it."

"Fabulous." He snipped. "If we get back to Atlantis-"

John cut him off as he wiped his forehead, the heat was starting to get unbearable, "When."

"Fine, _when_ we get back, I'm going to be… extracted aren't I?"

John had been avoiding the subject of that future. "There's nothing else to do."

"Course not… What the hell did I do to be messed with like this…"

"Hey, I'm not bright as a daisy here either."

"But at least you're awake. The original is back there, passed out, most likely dying, again, I remind you. Then me with my situation, in combination, I've been messed with immensely since I've been in this galaxy."

"Hey, I actually did die." John rubbed the right side of his neck, where a certain Iratus bug had latched itself to all that time ago.

"True. SG teams would have no hope of getting health insurance from a civilian company, that's for sure."

John was thinking now. If Rodney didn't make it, if he did die…which he hoped wouldn't happen… it would hurt the city too much to loose him, hurt him too much… but they would have a slightly less experienced version…

But that wouldn't work. Not with the body he was residing it at the time.

They could just keep him stored…

But that wouldn't be right either, would it? To be stored like an artifact, pulled from the shelf when needed.

The Asgard have cloning technology…

_Hmm._

"Colonel? Hello, you're spacing out there."

"Oh, yea. Insurance would really suck." He glanced over where Teyla had set a piece of Ancient tech down earlier. He was curious about it actually, just didn't want to give in to Rodney's demands before. It was just within his reach.

He leaned over and picked up the small red, pear shaped device for the first time. It was remarkably still cool to the touch despite the heat of the sub, "It all seems to trivial now."

"What does?"

"Rodney was trying to get me to activate this thing, I wouldn't because the last time I became what can be described as a hairless cat."

Ronon-Rodney spun around, "What?"

"The other piece of tech caused all my hair to fall out."

"You're serious?" A grin passed through Ronon's lips and developed into full-blown laughter.

"It's not funny!"

"Yes it is," He doubled over, "Oh man. I can imagine it! No wonder why you're hair seemed shorter, I couldn't place it…" He continued to below despite John's remarks until he started to chuckle a bit himself.

John felt the device warm up and looked down at it. He ran his thumb over the top and a piece of the metal slid to the side to reveal three small buttons. "Huh."

"What?"

"It opened."

"Really?" Rodney's expression of child-like wonder at new technology passed over Ronon's face and he crouched down in front of the seated Colonel. "What is it?"

"He didn't know. There was something about it being found in a lecture hall."

"Give me that." He took it from John's hand, "Hmm."

"Hey! I was looking at it."

"He couldn't activate it?"

"No."

"And you did within seconds."

"Yuh huh."

"Weird."

"Ya think?"

"I wonder what it does." He looked down at it, completely absorbed.

"Well, we have other things to worry about right now." John took it back from Rodney's copy.

"Right. Getting back to it now." He turned and went back to work.

John hunkered down into the chair, his thumb caressing the cool casing. There was one button that was octagonal, one was a square, and one a triangle. He was still a little wary of it after what happened the last time he used a small device, but this certainly wasn't a little square box. It was even a different color.

He pressed the square which was on the left of the row.

Immediately from the tapered end, a twelve inch tall image was produced of an older looking man standing in front of a large screen, his mouth moving as the image on the monitor changed.

"Umm, Rodney?"

"What?" He turned around and saw the hologram in the air. "Huh."

"Cool."

Rodney walked to John's side to see the image from the correct side, "Do you see that?"

"See what?" He ignored the strange feeling he always got talking to a copied Rodney McKay in Ronon Dex's body.

"On the screen behind him."

John peered closer and said astonished, "No way."

"Is there volume on that thing?"

"I don't know."

"Well, think 'volume' or something."

John focused and in a moment they could hear the man speaking. "Really cool. Think this is useful?"

"Oh yea." Rodney looked at the image of their submarine behind the Ancient and listened closely to the description of the outer hull. "Is there fast forward by any chance?"

John thought and the image sped up much like on a television screen. "Have an idea of what this is?"

With his eyes never moving from the screen he answered, "Judging by the fact it was found in a lecture hall, I'd say that Ancient was a professor giving a class on the design of the submarines and some student recorded it."

"Lucky us."

"About time we got a break. Wait, wait, wait. Go back."

The Colonel did a few seconds and played the recording. "Did he just say 'spares compartment'?"

Rodney grinned, "Oh yea. Can you enlarge it?"

"I can try." John started thinking and the hologram increased dramatically in size to about five feet high.

"Perfect." Rodney said in awe, completely sincere as he stared at the image on the screen behind the Ancient Professor. "We might just get out of here yet."

He had John replay the segment again and went to the left corner of the front of the submarine.

He knelt and inspected the floor. It looked all the same except for a small area, no bigger than the diameter of his pinky finger. It was slightly lower than the surrounding area, and would easily be passed over if someone didn't know it was there. He pressed down on it and a panel slid open revealing an area in the floor.

He knew what to look for, and found it within a few seconds. He carefully brought it out of the hole, turning to John, "Damn cool."

John was still in the chair, not feeling too keen on moving anymore. His body protested too much. "Let's get this working then."

"Yes, yes." Copy-Rodney quickly went to the main console, gingerly set the replacement part down on the pilot's seat, and after a few moments carefully removed the fried main power conduit.

John called behind him, "Teyla?"

She answered from around the wall dividing the two sections, "Yes, Colonel?"

"I have good news."

"Oh?" She walked into the front to see Ronon popping a part into the console.

"We found something to replace the fried part in that compartment over there." He pointed, "Nice, huh?"

She smiled, "Very. How did you manage to do that?"

"This thing," John held up the red recording device, "Some Ancient kid taped his teacher talking about the subs."

She teased him, "So you finally gave into the temptation of new technology?"

"Yep."

She got more serious, "Did you think that if you did in Atlantis we could have been back by now? Rodney has not woken up yet."

John's retort was cut off by a very happy Copy-Rodney, "It should work now. Fire it up."

Colonel Sheppard stood quickly as he could and switched to sit in the pilot's seat, immediately activating the sub.

The regular lights came back on, "So, when I activate the communication system it's not going to happen again, right?"

"It better not."

Ronon-Rodney and Teyla waited with baited breath as John activated the communications.

He looked around, the lights were still on, "Atlantis. It's Colonel Sheppard and Sub 1. We have a problem." He thought again, "A few."

* * *

**A/N:** No way it's going to be that easy, right? I mean come on folks, it's _me_ here. We're only at chapter 7, though I mentioned it was going to be shorter than _Phantom Thoughts_, but that was 14. Then again, I could pull something completely not like me and have it that easy, wouldn't that just be like me anyway? Muahahaha.

Hang on, still a while to go either way…

Keep feeding the bunnies like you have, they are very happy and smiling. Look, they're so cute! White and fluffy…

wait… that one's barring its teeth at me… Oh no it's …. Ahh! -pulls out sword and swings at it, but it keeps attacking, gets back to computer-

Run away! Run away! Run away!

(alright, got a little carried away there. Gold star for whoever figures out what movie I watched this Sunday… a lot… once through, then two scenes subtitled in Japanese, then with subtitles by William Shakespeare but I fell asleep (sacrilege I know) so I restarted it. So that was at least 4 and a half hours. It was great! Have to love Special Edition DVD's.

And another gold star for whoever knows what Hermiod was saying or what language… I know it's not Asgard, I don't know Asgard, so anyone who does can give me some Asgard curses to substitute)


	8. One Down, A Ton to Go

**A/N:** The Killer Rabbit wouldn't leave me alone… and then it attacked my beta. Sorry it's been so long, I had an immense amount of work to do (papers, exams, reading…) I know I said don't send me threatening emails/reviews but encouraging ones if it's been awhile after an update are always welcome. Believe it or not or think I'm a little nuts, they do help.

Hopefully I haven't lost anyone.

I've decided to give Grodin's replacement a name. I still miss that Brit…but life goes on. I don't know if the writers ever gave Dr. Simpson a first name either, so I gave her one too.

This has developed into more angst than I originally intended, as I'm sure all you have noticed. It still is more implied than described in detail, but it is there, setting up for _Return_'s prequel in a way, well many, subtly.

On with the show…

* * *

**Chapter 8-**_ One Down, A Ton to Go_

Radek tapped his fingers anxiously on the desk in the security room. He was waiting for the computer to finish its search of all personnel fingerprints. Perhaps if they turned up with only who was supposed to be there, then he could rest easily.

After Rodney woke up and ordered the copy of his consciousness to be erased, Radek and Peter Grodin had gone down to the main lab where they had brought the console for study and promptly did.

Or so they thought.

They had gone through the design of the console as much as they could, it was unlike what they had seen before. Radek thought that it was possible they did miss something, they were just so many backups and redundancies Garin Trelio built in, and it wasn't as if plans were found for that specific technology.

The screen flashed its results and Radek's face fell.

There were three full sets of prints, all of palms. One was when Rodney first set his hand on the, unknowing downloading an Ancient into his head, another was Kate Heightmeyer's, the last was also Rodney's when they extracted Garin.

But there was a set of only fingerprints, ones that shouldn't be there. Radek couldn't believe the name that came up.

A link opened link on his headset, _"Zelenka, it's Dr. Weir. We have news."_

"As do I. What is yours?"

_She walked out to the Control Room, "It might be best if you come up here."_

"Yes, see you in a moment." He copied the results from his search onto a computer work-pad and left the room, passing one of the original military members on the way out. He nodded to the man who nodded back and headed out into the hall.

If they didn't really erase all the consciousness data… and it was downloaded into who those prints belonged to… and they just happened to be out of reach at the moment… He didn't want to think too hard about it.

After walking to the transporter and out again, it was only a few steps to the Control Room. Dr. Weir was talking with Sergeant Bryan Grimault.

Radek no longer felt the twinge of pain when he saw the young Canadian sergeant performing duties Peter had for that first year in Atlantis, but thinking about Peter again brought it up a bit. He shook it off as he walked up to the two of them.

Elizabeth saw him and turned from the screen on the wall where Bryan had brought up the latest scans. She got right to the point, not wanting to dance around it, "Zelenka, the Daedalus cannot detect Sub 1."

"That is not good, not at all…" He was hoping they would at least know where they were, and with this new news…

The Sergeant expanded on Elizabeth's information, "And their sensors are being distorted in a greater area around the fissure." He gestured to the screen.

As Radek thought about reasons that was happening, he turned the work-pad towards Elizabeth, "This also needs to be under advisement."

With a look of slight confusion to what he was referring to, she took the small computer and read it over. "Oh…" Her face went into a state of showing no emotions though under the surface she was worried, "You don't think that he used Trelio's console do you? If there's only one new set then he could have only copied himself."

Radek winced, "Well, unless there was already a consciousness stored in it."

She cocked her head, "Wasn't all the data cleared before storage?"

"So we think. But if we missed something, Ronon Dex could be at the bottom of the ocean with a copy of Rodney in his mind, or even Garin Trelio's."

"Let's hope that neither is the case, especially about Garin Trelio. The last time he took over a member of this Expedition, we almost lost Rodney. I wonder what he was even doing in the storage room."

"Only he can answer that question." Zelenka thought it was only one in the afternoon in Earth-time, and it already was a long day. The three of them continued to talk about the situation and all that they knew about what was going on.

---

"Atlantis, are you reading me?" Lt. Colonel Sheppard spoke more anxiously than the first time he tried, a few moments before. "Sergeant, if you're slacking off I'm going to remove you from active duty."

His threat went unanswered and he muttered, "Yea… Grimault wouldn't stray from his post."

Copy Rodney contrived Ronon's face into confusion, "Who? Where's Peter?"

John kept a stone face on, "A lot happened during the Siege." He beat back the memories and changed the subject, "What's going on with the comm.?"

Rodney didn't need further explanation. With a fallen face he answered solemnly, "It uh…" He checked a few things on the console with his right hand as his left was clutched around his stomach. "It's functioning properly." He hissed suddenly and closed his eyes.

Teyla reached forward from her seat and rested her hand on his left shoulder, "Are you alright?"

Rodney snapped in Ronon's deep voice, "No I'm not alright! I just got this headache back." He rubbed his stomach, "Not to mention this stomach ache… not really nauseous…"

She questioned, "Has this happened earlier? Since the crash?"

"Yes! Quite a few times actually."

"You should have told me." She scolded.

"Well, I was busy at the time and if I did you wouldn't have let me work…and it's not as if the pint-size McKay is in any shape for fixing this thing." He let out a slow, deep breath.

John was also leaned in close to him, "Do you need anything?"

"What I need is to get off of the ocean floor and back to Atlantis." He snarked quietly as his head swirled.

"I'm working on it." Sheppard grasped the controls and focused his thoughts on lifting the submarine up towards the surface.

---

Alexa Stroh tapped her foot as she sat next to Susan Simpson in a sectioned off part of the Control Room, unaware of the discoveries the Daedalus and Radek had made.

She pointed to the monitor, "Interesting."

"I see it." The American scientist typed in a few commands, "Where it came from is the question now."

"Let's trace it from the camera back through the hallway. The power should be from the west end of the hall."

Susan ran her hand over her strawberry-blonde hair and quickly hit a few keys, the image on the monitor immediately changing. "I wonder if this was the only camera that lost those twenty minutes."

"It wouldn't be hard to check."

"I'll continue to trace this if you would see to that." Susan asked as she kept her hazel eyes focused on the readings.

Alexa nodded, "Good luck." She stood, "I shouldn't be long."

"I'll be here."

Dr. Stroh left the backroom and went out into the main section of the Control Balcony where Radek was talking with the young sergeant. Zelenka had his right arm crossed and his left hand on his chin while Sergeant Grimault had his left hand at his side and right pointing to the large crystal monitor. Both men were of the same approximate height standing over by the screen where the images they had taken of the fissure were displayed. The initial one was on the left followed by the subsequent ones.

She went over to them, "Radek, Sergeant."

Radek and Bryan turned to her, neither had heard her walking up, being too engrossed in their discussion. Radek answered her first with a slight smile upon seeing her, "Alexa."

Bryan also acknowledged her, "Doctor."

Radek inquired, "How is the power diagnostic going?"

"Simpson and I discovered there was a surge. She's tracing it and I'm going to see if the other cameras were affected in the same way. What are you two so absorbed in?"

"We're discussing the possible reasons that the area surrounding the fissure has increased so dramatically within the last hour or so." Bryan gestured to the images. The one on the left was the most detailed from two days ago and the last was the worst. The area within a thousand meters was impenetrable by Atlantis's sensors and the Daedalus's and was black at the center and fuzzy around the edges.

"Sub 1 is in there somewhere?" Alexa raised her eyebrow.

Radek sighed, "Unfortunately. We know the fissure was emitting radiation that distorted our scans and it was approximately 160 degrees Celsius when they left for the mission."

"The increase of distortion most likely has gone along with an increase of temperature."

Alexa wrung her hands gently in front of her where they were folded, "You do not know?"

Radek noticed her actions, "Those were the first sensors to be blocked."

It was her turn to ask Radek, "Did your search come up with anything?"

Zelenka sighed slightly, "There's another set of prints that belong to Ronon Dex."

"Oh my god. At least there was no consciousness to be downloaded."

"As far as we know." Radek turned his head back to the screen and Bryan lowered his eyes.

"Excuse me?"

The Sergeant grimaced, "From what I've heard of the console, it wouldn't be hard to miss something."

She raised an eyebrow, "Oh that's just great, let's hope that isn't the case."

"For all our sakes." Radek collected his notes he had set down on the workstation quickly and addressed Bryan, "I want to recheck Trelio's computer, and I'll be back up here to continue the scans. The database should be checked for any references to the fissure again. We couldn't find anything before." He wished Elana Trelio was still around, she would have found it quickly if there was anything to find. He went on to talk to Alexa, "You'll need security clearance to study the other footage, Dr. Weir will have to give it to you." He took a breath, "That is it, no?"

Dr. Stroh nodded noticing his frazzling edges and how he still had all issues under control, "Everything is covered."

"Good. I'm off." He walked away with his hand running through his hair and thoughts running through his head.

---

John Sheppard's face was strained red, his jaw clenched, and eyes looking directly out the window of the submarine.

Copy Rodney and Teyla were looking at him with worried looks and Rodney snipped, "Are you having a problem?"

John spoke through his teeth, "Just give me a second." He focused harder and the sub lurched up and began its ascent. "It's like it was being held down. It's still really hard to keep it going." He checked the readings, "And we're not even going fast at all."

"We're crawling…" Rodney closed Ronon's eyes and rubbed the back of his head. "We were going too fast after power was lost… something was pulling us and it won't let go…" He went silent as his arm fell to his side.

"Rodney, you can't fall asleep now after saying that." John tried to get him to respond.

"I can if I want." Ronon's head tilted forward as John kept the sub going up.

Teyla checked his pulse and gave a nod to the Colonel. "I will be in the back."

He still had his jaw clenched in concentration, "Alright."

-

Rodney opened his eyes to white.

_Damn._

It was one place he did not want to be right then, well ever again. Not after spending quality time there with an Ancient mad scientist.

But of course, it was different. He was the scientist invading someone's mind. He looked over to his right and realized he wasn't the only one awake.

"Umm… hi…"

Ronon was looking around the expanse with a blank look on his face and sitting up, "McKay."

Rodney continued, "So uh, we finally meet. It's Ronon, right?"

"You should know that by now. What happened to the sub?" He stood up and his expression became wider as he searched around, seeing nothing but Rodney McKay.

"It's a long story actually. You wouldn't know about copying and downloading consciousnesses would you?" Ronon gave him a look and Rodney stood up, "No, of course not."

"Teyla was talking about an Ancient. I know what happened with him."

"Oh, okay. Good, then there's one less thing I have to explain to you. That would have been an interesting conversation wouldn't it? 'Oh by the way, I had a different consciousness in my brain.' Wait… actually…"

"McKay." Ronon didn't like not knowing exactly what was going on.

"Right, right. Well." Rodney slapped his hands together, not knowing how Ronon, a man he had just met, was going to take this news, "This is the first time I, personally, am meeting you."

Ronon started piecing it together as Rodney continued nervously, "When they took Garin Trelio out of my head, they copied me and apparently didn't… delete me because here I am. In your head, somehow."

Ronon stayed silent while it came together for him. When Teyla had described Garin's computer, he had hid his worry. Now he knew the full consequences.

"We are in your mind. It's like this most likely because of the trauma your body received in the crash. You see when the Jumper was cr-"

"What crash?"

"Oh, the sub. It crashed. The Colonel was hurt, the original me is actually passed out… I uh… anyway, Teyla's alright, and you… us… must have suffered some pretty severe injuries for us to be thrown in here and for me being out there for so long."

Ronon's anger was rising, "You have been in control of _my_ body?"

Rodney felt like he should back away, and he did, by a baby step and then a much larger one, "Well… uh… you see…"

"McKay." Ronon stepped forward, closing the distance between them to only a mere arm's length.

"I didn't want to! I didn't know how to-'

He stopped speaking as a fist came into contact with his chin, turning his face to the right.

"Hey!" He rubbed his face out of instinct, "I suppose I deserved that."

"Yes." Ronon agreed as he crossed his arms.

"For one, that didn't hurt, so the joke's on you. We could beat each other for hours and neither one of us would be harmed. Believe me, I've been through this before. About a couple of hours ago technically, so lay off Worf." Copy Rodney said with his best snark, but it fell flat out of his innate fear of the man in front of him. The large man who looked like he could take down an elephant, and felt like it too to Rodney when he had control.

"We're stuck here?"

"Yep." Rodney took another step back from Ronon.

"Because of the damage to my body from a crash I can't remember?"

"Yea. But the good news is that I have the sub running again so we should be back to Atlantis fairly soon. Though the sub was moving awfully slow… and time in this reality isn't really the same as far as I know. I suppose it could be, but since time is relative to-"

"Can't I just wake up from this place?" The last thing Ronon wanted was to be there with Rodney, even a copy, for however long it took to get back to the city.

"You could. Giving it a try wouldn't hurt. Concentrate on waking up."

Ronon sat on the white ground without another word and closed his eyes.

Rodney looked on the scene, not knowing what to expect. Ronon vanishing into thin air? But nothing was happening. "So…"

"Shh!"

"Oh, right. Sorry." Rodney rocked on his heels for another few moments as Ronon didn't move from his position. "I don't think it's going to work. At least not anytime soon. When Garin first took control before he made the mind-suppressant, it was for a couple hours at a time and I blacked out. After the Jumper crashed, I had control of my body for awhile instead of Garin. It had to have been the trauma that shook him loose. Then the injuries caught up to me, I passed out, and woke up in a place like this with him."

Ronon opened his eyes, "But you had control when the sub crashed."

"True. Me waking up could have just been random, both times."

Ronon glared around the empty expanse, "There's no other way out?"

"No." He sat down a few feet away from the other man.

They stayed in silence for what seemed like eternity until Rodney broke it, "What were you doing touching Garin Trelio's computer anyway? Didn't your mother teach you not to play with other people's things?"

"I was restless."

"So you go wandering dark rooms of Atlantis?"

"It's not unusual."

"Don't you know that some Ancient technology could be dangerous?"

Ronon eyed Rodney, "Now I do."

"Oh, funny." Rodney snipped. "But seriously, were you nervous or something?"

Ronon only gave him his version of the evil eye.

"That's it! Was it your first sub mission?"

"Yes."

"Huh. You were anxious and wanted to check out more of Ancient tech before you delved thousands of meters underwater."

"You don't know everything McKay."

"But I'm right aren't I?"

Again, no answer came from Ronon.

"I'm sure you could have just asked for a tour or something."

"I wish I would have."

---

Elizabeth Weir looked down over the Gate from the balcony, her hands gripping the railing. It had been cool to the touch when she first clamped her hands on it, but now she felt the warmth.

Warmth. It had to be getting hot at the ocean floor.

The day had been eventful, information flying at her from all angles. And it wasn't over yet. It wouldn't be until the team was back, Ronon was talked to, it was confirmed there wasn't another consciousness in the Satedan's head, the mystery of the fissure solved, and the strange power surge was fixed.

Not a tall list at all.

She was contemplating sending another team and another submarine. They did have a bay full of subs, it could be ready to go in an hour. Even less if it was needed. Major Lorne's team would go.

But they had too little information to go on, and the team could still be gathering research. They planned on spending two hours down there and it was just nearing that mark. The team had only missed one check-in, Atlantis couldn't reach them, and the fissure was causing more distortions in their sensors. That's all Atlantis knew, but it wasn't boding well.

She heard someone behind her, "Dr. Weir?"

Elizabeth turned to see Dr. Stroh and Dr. Simpson, "Yes?"

Alexa turned a computer-pad to her, "We've traced the surge to Generator 2. It affected all security cameras connected to it for a duration of twenty minutes last night."

"There is a minor problem with the generator itself, but gone unchecked for too long, it could have been worse. Dr. Zelenka is down there fixing it."

"Couldn't he have sent someone else?" Elizabeth knew the Czech had his hands full that day.

Susan went on, "He mentioned bringing a few others so they get to know the technology."

She gave the pad back to Alexa, "Good work, doctors."

They left after goodbyes and Elizabeth turned back to the Gate and whispered, "One down."

* * *

**A/N:** It's great to know there are fellow Python fans out there reading this. I just got a screencap program, one of these days I will be capping _Holy Grail_. Hehe.

The language was Tolkien's Elvish and a little of the language of Mordor. No die-hard LOTR fans huh? Oh and sparklegem, thanks for the heads-up! I'll go back to that someday and change it.

Leave something to feed the bunnies (not the Killer Rabbit, I finally got away from it!)


	9. Spiral Down Under

**A/N:** This chapter is shorter due to the fact I thought you all would like this part now instead of waiting until next week. I have some thinking to do about Chapter 10 and college is currently kicking my freshman ass to be frank.

_Lirenel- yep, Hermiod speaking Quenya. You are an official Tolkienite, congrats. Krysalys I'm sure you are too, if I hadn't just read or flipped through the books I wouldn't have known either._

Glad you all are liking it!

-not beta-d, life is busy for her too. The last chapter is now beta-d though.

* * *

**Chapter 9**_­-Spiral Down Under_

Teyla reached him in the same position she left him in - lying on his back, and his head on her jacket. She knelt over the still Rodney McKay, the original and until a few hours before, the one and only. It was obvious now he wasn't the sole person in the galaxy who described himself as such.

She gently felt his forehead, the sweat beading on it. Then she moved her hand to his neck, and became grateful that there was still a pulse. A pain shot through her heart that there was nothing to be done to help him. There wasn't a single outside scratch on him and she knew that his lungs had to be damaged. Not only had he been coughing violently when he was conscious, it was bloody and there was no way to treat that at the bottom of an ocean. He had to be taken back to Atlantis.

Despite the heat that the submarine's life-control systems were struggling to stifle, she felt that he was cold, and his body was in an almost constant state of shivering.

She set herself down against the wall and laid Rodney's head in her lap. In a further attempt to warm him and ignoring the fact she was uncomfortable from the added body heat, she took her bundled jacket and stretched it over his chest.

His shallow and labored breathing was felt by Teyla and she tried not to think of him dying, not after saving his life a few times, and he wasn't going to pass away quietly in the back of a submarine under thousands of meters of water. He had survived more close calls than most of the men she knew, and more bizarre ones at that.

No, he was not passing to the other side like this.

She closed her eyes as she gently stroked his hair, letting his subconscious know he wasn't alone.

Then she felt the sub jerk downward, her body lurching to catch up.

"Damn it!" Sheppard's voice echoed.

-

John had been focusing his thoughts on piloting the sub, and only on piloting. He didn't have the ability or strength to think about anything else. Not on the unconscious Ronon-Rodney beside him, or on the original in the back, not on Atlantis, not on his own persistent headache and nausea from the blow to his head, or even on what copy Rodney had said before he drifted off.

The only thing that existed in his world was the submarine.

And it wasn't happy.

In fact, it was pissed.

Pissed that its controller was not listening.

It was not used to such a stubborn pilot, usually they talked back in addition to communicating with the other systems needed to actually set the sub in motion. Before when it had detected the failing power conduit and attempted to warn the operator, it was ignored, leading to harm to itself.

This time, it wasn't going to let itself be ignored. It became louder and louder in John Sheppard's mind, echoing throughout his consciousness, drowning the world out.

It was hard for John to disregard it and keep the sub ascending, or crawling really, to the surface with the diagnostic system yelling at him. So he answered.

He closed his eyes and directed his thoughts towards the blue light at the far end of his sight. When he did, the rest of the sub reacted by jerking down. It lost its pilot. Ronon-Rodney's arms flailed upward from the sudden force, John's stomach felt as if it was left behind, and his head pounded.

"Damn it!" It was what the sub wanted, to be answered, and now it was no longer going up. He could feel it spiral back towards the ocean floor. He swore out of frustration.

"Colonel!"

He couldn't hear Teyla calling from the back as the sub landed with a thud. He wasn't paying attention since his mind was filled with a presence and a growing light.

"_Diagnostic systems are not to be ignored, sir."_

John furrowed his eyebrows at the medium-pitched female-esque voice in his head. He thought at the swirly blue image, _"Umm, okay… You are?"_

"_The Diagnostic and Warning system for Underwater Craft Twenty-Seven. Commonly referred to as E.H." The system responded with what can be described as annoyance at the superfluous question._

The identification further confused the Colonel, it was too eerie to be true, _"What's that stand for?"_

"_Elana Hulin." It was even more annoyed at the man._

"_Why that name?"_

"_It is in jest of the engineer's daughter." Everyone knew that._

"_Really?"_ John knew Elana Trelio didn't like the water, never thought her father would name a sub after her, before she had married.

"_Yes."_

John was about to respond when he was shaken out of his trance. The light faded away and the real world seeped back in as Teyla shook him by his shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

He opened his eyes, "Yea. That was… weird."

"What exactly? You would not respond to me for several moments. I was beginning to think-"

"No, I'm still with you. Unlike our scientist…s and weapons specialist. How are they?"

Teyla glanced back at Ronon who was still unconscious in the chair next to the Colonel and at the back of the sub, "They are the same. We need to get back to the city." She began to check John over with her eyes.

"We do. I just don't understand why this is all spiraling out of control. We were moving just fine… slowly… but fine." John scratched his head through the bandage he still had wrapped around his wound and looked at his hand, dried blood under his fingernails.

"Rodney mentioned something about us being pulled toward the bottom, we are being held down."

"He should've stuck around a little longer to explain that." John looked around at the sub, the temperature still mostly uncomfortable but getting nicer by the minute. "The system that was warning me about the power conduit is trying to talk to me."

Teyla cocked her head at John's matter-of-fact comment, "What was it saying?" At this point, nothing was going to surprise her about Ancient technology. It can do wonderful things.

"I don't know, we were interrupted. But I think it's mad at me." He replied sheepishly.

"Wouldn't you be if you tried to warn someone, they ignored you, and then you were harmed?" She replied as she observed the tired look that overtook his features. His eyes were droopy and dark and his face lost a bit more color than the last time she saw him, only a few minutes earlier.

"I guess so." He paused and continued, "I'm going to try it again."

"Is that a wise idea? You look worse than before."

"Oh, well, it's our only option at this point."

Teyla simply nodded as John closed his eyes. She sat down behind the out of conscious Ronon, waiting a few moments before returning to check on the original Rodney McKay.

-

"He's stolen the magic tooth, who knows what powers it may convey." Rodney mumbled as he sat on the white ground across from a seated Ronon Dex.

Ronon stopped playing with the tooth and bone necklace his had around his neck, "What did you say?"

"Nothing you would understand."

"Try me."

Rodney dropped his hands that had been folded across his chest, "It would be pointless since you wouldn't know what a television special is."

"I don't like your tone, McKay." Ronon scowled.

Rodney shrunk his sarcasm down a little bit, "Well, it's from a documentary about cavemen. I thought it applied."

The full scope of the remark was lost on Ronon Dex, but he understood enough of it to be insulted. He knew it was useless to take out the boiling rage he had in him, that the man before him wouldn't feel a thing, but it didn't stop him from wanting to.

"There really isn't another way out of here?"

Rodney snipped, "For the last time, no. I hate being here as much as you do."

"But you don't have someone in your head." Ronon clenched his fist and unclenched it.

"I did, so I know how much it sucks. In fact it was worse than this, you have no idea."

Ronon didn't look up, "I think I do."

"No, you don't! You're not being systematically driven insane by a mad scientist are you?" Rodney's anger was rising.

"Some might say that."

"Oh let it go! I watched that bastard be me for days, _be_ me, _act_ like me. I was trapped, imprisoned, had my mind ravaged by him. You are just lucky that you didn't get stuck with him."

Ronon breathed deeply and thought for a few moments, "I'll take your word on that, McKay." He was sincere.

Rodney calmed, "Okay then. We're making progress."

-

_John's eyelids were closed, but his eyes were moving under them and his head slightly turning as the images changed in his mind. He was following where the diagnostic system was leading him._

_He was inside the sub, could see the routes, coils, crystals, synapses… every intrical part of the inner workings. There was one word to describe it._

"_Cool."_

"_That word is unfamiliar." The diagnostic and warning system replied questionably._

"_It means… awesome, amazing, you know… cool."_

"_Affirmative." The system kept guiding John through the structure of the submarine._

"_Glad you got it, DW."_

"_D.W.?"_

"_E.H. is the sub, not you, so you're D.W."_

"_Yes, sir." The semi-mechanical yet eerily human voice responded._

_The speed at which the images came at John increased to the point where he was barely able to catch a glimpse of their shapes as the blurry forms passed by him._

"_Wait, slow down."_

"_In a moment." D.W. kept going and then halted the tour._

_John looked at the space surrounding him. A conduit was to his left, enlarged so it was the size of the front half of the submarine itself. He felt incredibly small at the recollection that Copy Rodney held that very same piece in Ronon's hands._

_The blue light that represented D.W. floated before him and there was an undulating light within the conduit, but pulsing in only the slightest._

"_As you can see, the replacement part is working efficiently."_

"_Right…" John looked into the light, grateful it wasn't the white-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel kind, "Why do I feel there's a 'but' coming?"_

"_There is." The computerized personality responded, programmed to answer every question to the best of its knowledge base. It went on to its original line of talk, "However, it is simply not enough to return to port."_

"_Rodney said the generator was at full power." He wondered how much more was needed._

"_Correction, it is functioning at normal stable full power." The blue light shimmered._

_The Colonel saw the world around him begin to fade, but he fought to stay in the artificial reality as the view around him changed again. Now he was standing by the relay, in proportion to the conduit he saw a moment ago, that came from the generator._

_D.W. continued, "The power generator has to be modified to output enough energy to the engines to break from the ocean floor."_

"_How do I do that, and what do you mean 'break'?"_

"_Diagnostic and warning systems are designed only to diagnose and warn. The craft could not sever the hold on it by the force."_

"_So you can't tell me how to fix it?"_

"_No."_

"_And in talking to you, I lost control and the sub ended up under thousands of meters of water again?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Why did you bother me then! I had the sub ascending fine!"_

"_You were putting too much strain on your body. You would have lost control at a higher depth and sent the craft to the bottom another time, with more risk of crashing. A few minutes ago held less risk of this occurring."_

"_Okay… anything else you need to tell me?" This computer was getting on John's nerves a tad._

"_No."_

"_So you're not going to yell at me anymore?" It had been the strangest feeling he had encountered, a submarine yelling at him through his own mind._

"_Not unless it is necessary."_

"_Alright… nice chatting with you."_

_The virtual world of the workings of the sub shimmered away as John disconnected from the diagnostic system back to the real world._

-

"Huh."

"What?" Ronon asked, half wanting to know the answer. Both men had remained in their seated positions on the white ground, surrounded by nothing.

"I was just thinking about this little mission that's posing so much trouble. You see, once power was lost the sub accelerated to a descent speed that's beyond what the engines are capable of."

Ronon's silence urged him on, "It increased as we got closer to the fissure, and then even with full power the ascent is going slow. Combine that with the fact the fissure is interfering with Atlantis' sensors, the connection is obvious."

Ronon's questioning expression prodded Rodney to continue, "The fissure has to be emitting a field, probably gravitational… maybe magnetic given that the sub is made of a type of metal, I don't know if they've tested its magnetic properties though. There are a few metals that aren't magnetic and since we're in another galaxy…" He waved his hand, "but I digress. The field must have pulled the sub down once it became a powerless piece of material and it won't let go."

"Then how do we get free?"

"I haven't thought that far yet."

"I see." Ronon was anxious to get out, to move around in his own body, to be back above sea level.

Copy-Rodney looked down at his shoes and thought about what he knew of the submarine's systems, what he had learned from himself. He needed to find a way to boost the power supplied to engines.

When he looked up, he was alone in the white world.

"Great."

-

John Sheppard and Teyla Emmagan were discussing what he had just been informed of by D.W. It wasn't really a surprise to Teyla that the Ancestor engineer of the submarine had decided to name the vessel. She came across many instances where the men from Earth had referred to cars, guitars, and even golf clubs by a name. Not to mention John had just nick-named the warning system. Perhaps the ATA gene linked the two races more than they thought.

Neither one of them was going to pretend they knew how to alter a submarine power generator to produce more energy. There was one person with them that possibly could, two versions of him. One was unconscious in the back of the vehicle, the other in a Runner's mind and also currently unavailable.

"I'm going to try it again."

Teyla responded to John's comment, "That is not wise, didn't the system say that your body will not be able to handle the added strain?"

"Yea, well…it's that or we just sit down here. We can't afford to do that." He breathed heavily, his own strength already passing.

He was about to start the ascent again when a low moan came from Ronon in the chair next to him. Teyla and John looked at each other and she went over to him, gently resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Ronon? Wake up."

Another sound came from him as his eyes began to open and adjust to the light.

"Is that you, Ronon?" Teyla asked, unsure of exactly how she was going to explain the events of the past couple of hours to the man.

"Yes." He said quietly, becoming aware of the numbing pain throughout his body. That was something he didn't miss being in his own little world he had been sharing with a copy of Rodney McKay.

"Welcome back," The colonel said as he closed his eyes against his own dizziness, but quickly opened them again. "You've missed a lot."

"I've been informed." Ronon commented. The other two looked at him strangely and he pointed to his head, "McKay in a white world."

"Oh. You talked to him then." Teyla sat down in the jump seat behind John.

"Yes."

John thought a moment and turned to Ronon seeing an opportunity, "Before I ask the question of how in the hell you managed to download a scientist into your head, I have a favor to ask you."

* * *

**A/N:** They just can't seem to get off the ground can they?

(evil laugh)

The Bunnies are getting quite fat for this fic, and they would like to stay that way so feed them!


	10. Spiral in the City

**A/N:** OK, I'm updating exactly a week after the last one, phew back on schedule.

The bunnies are smiling, and they're not white, they're the brown ones so I'm pretty sure they won't be attacking me.

re-edited version, just a little bit when Weir and Caldwell are talking. It's all in the details...

* * *

**Chapter 10-**_Spiral in the City_

"That is all." Radek shut the access panel and turned to the two people looking on.

"It did not take too long." Dr. Jin Hong, one of the several new recruits to the Pegasus Galaxy, commented. He had an uncanny eye to see things others couldn't or would simply overlook. The little wife back at home in the outskirts of Tokyo didn't like the idea of him being gone for a year, but it was the opportunity of a lifetime.

"A problem such as this should be corrected quickly before it gets out of hand."

"Or we would be in for a world of trouble." Dr. Irene Costello rubbed her arm to work out a cramp she had from working on her laptop most of they day. It was good to get out of the lab and to be in the city. It was huge and she wanted to know her way around, not to mention how nice she thought it was that Dr. Zelenka asked them to come along.

"Be like second Big Bang." Radek paused, "Not that big, but still a very large explosion."

Jin looked around the room that housed the naquadah generator which they were still using in order to conserve most of the Z.P.M. in case they needed the cloak again, "This whole sector would have been destroyed and left a gaping hole in the city."

"It's not going to happen now gentlemen, let's not dwell."

"Always the optimist." Jin teased the Italian whose family had emigrated to the Scottish Isles when she was but a child.

"Better than being a pessimist, at least I'm happy most of the time."

Radek picked up the equipment he brought and Hong helped him, "Blind bliss, what a luxury we don't have in this galaxy."

"It's not as if I don't know the threats here, I prefer not to think about them. Now, are we going to check the others?"

The two men looked at her and Radek responded, "In order to be thorough?"

"Yes."

Jin headed to the door, "Whatever happened to being an optimist?"

Irene followed, "It takes a second seat to preventing catastrophe."

---

Bryan Grimault stared at the screen that was displaying the information from the database. It was eating at his mind how he and Dr. Zelenka couldn't find anything to do with the fissure whatsoever. That meant that the Ancients never documented it so most likely it was a new problem.

They simply couldn't waste time researching before the team went, they needed to know what it was and the sensors weren't much of a help. Now things were only getting worse without contact from the Colonel and the team.

He tapped his fingers on the console and didn't hear as someone approached behind him.

"Sergeant. Do you have any news?"

He spun around to see Dr. Weir, "No, nothing yet. Sorry ma'am."

Elizabeth turned her head in the direction of the communications console, "I can't help but wonder what's going on down there."

"It would be nice to know. That and if they found anything interesting."

"They tend to. Keep monitoring those communications."

"Yes, ma'am." He watched as she walked to her office and turned his attention back to screen. He mentally checked off the sections they had searched – the typographical, the geographical, even the weather.

He began to think of other reasons why the fissure wouldn't be in the database… if an occurrence just happened then the Ancients might not have had enough time to document it properly…

Bryan hit a few keys to navigate through the system until the section he wanted came up. His eyes darted back and forth, reading the news articles' dates and upon seeing they were the wrong time, entered a few more instructions to see the later news.

---

"This city is certainly not small." Irene commented as the trio walked through another hallway that looked precisely like all the other ones, the only difference being they got more and more empty.

"No one said it was, didn't you read the information before we came?" Jin walked right behind her, Radek was leading the way.

"Of course I did, I only didn't realize it was so large."

"One gets used to it." Radek slowed down and veered to the left, opening a door. "Here we are."

Irene Costello followed the men in, "Thank the Lord."

"I seem to recall this being your idea." Jin opened a case and pulled out a few wires.

"Yes, I know." She eyed the generator as Radek opened a laptop and attached the wires to it. She then took the other ends and walked with them to the generator.

After they were connected Radek began running the diagnostic, "There shouldn't be anything wrong with this one."

Jin watched the images change. "That went for the last one."

"That is true." Radek's eyes widened at what came up, "This is not good."

"What?" Now Irene was worried.

Radek looked up at her, "It's the exact same malfunction."

"You have to be kidding."

"I'm afraid not."

Jin and Irene began to work as Radek opened a link on his radio, "Dr. Weir, it's Zelenka."

"_Go ahead."_

"Generator 1 also has a malfunction. We're working on it now."

"_That's a little odd."_

"I agree, especially because it's the same one."

_The shock in her voice was hid, "Precisely the same?"_

"Yes."

"_Make sure the others are in working order too. I don't want a situation on my hands."_

It wasn't long until they had repaired the second generator of the day and began to move towards the next one, all bemused at what was going on.

---

Elizabeth Weir had her legs stretched out under her desk and a computer pad in her hands, it was open to a map of the city and she eyed where the generators were. It was just too coincidental how two generators had the same malfunction. Not to mention how one sent a surge that jut happened to take out the security cameras in the hall outside Storage Room 27D, which happened to be on the way to Generator 1.

She opened a link on her headset, "Major Lorne."

"_Yes, ma'am?"_

"Assemble a security team to search the areas surrounding the generators, there's something not right."

"_Sabotage?"_

"It's starting to look that way. I want another team to accompany Dr. Zelenka and his team also as they investigate them."

"_I'll get right on it."_

"Thank you. I'll have Sergeant Grimault run scans of the area."

The link severed and she was about to open another when her radio clicked, _"Dr. Weir, I have some information about the fissure."_

"I was about to call you, Sergeant. I'll be right out." Elizabeth stood and quickly left her office to see the young man standing at the screen, this time he heard her coming.

"Ma'am, I found this is in the news section. It occurred to me that maybe the Ancients didn't have time to enter it in the other sections of the database."

"And?" She began reading the articles displayed.

"Basically, a month before they left, the Ancients detected the same thing we did and sent a submarine to investigate since the sensors were distorted. They lost contact with it for five hours."

"But they regained it."

"Yes. Once the crew was out of the distorted area, all communications were established once more. They reported extreme heat, and strong magnetic and gravitational fields. After peaking in all areas on the second day, the fissure faded away and was gone after a total of four, so the Ancients didn't worry about it."

"They did have other things on their minds." She read over the rest and came across a certain passage. She pointed, "Did you read this part?"

Bryan looked closer, "Well," then he read it all, "Oh, no I didn't."

"The Ancient crew had to modify the power supply to break away from the fissure." She crossed her arms in thought.

"I wonder if Colonel Sheppard and his team figured that part out yet." He rubbed his chin.

"If there's one person who can do that on his own, it's McKay. But just in case, I want a team working on another submarine. I'm sending a team down there."

"Yes ma'am."

"And perform a scan in the generators' sections, Generator 1 also had a malfunction and there's something not right."

"Right away."

---

Colonel Stephen Caldwell was taking a break from the day, sitting in his quarters. It had been an eventful day on the Daedalus itself, events caused him to miss the briefing earlier that morning about the mission to the fissure.

The scientists had taken care of it, but it was still odd. They never had that problem before, even Hermiod was a bit surprised.

"_Colonel?"_

Stephen practically jumped at Dr. Novak's voice coming from his earpiece, "Yes?"

"_Hermiod has been reviewing the logs from the failure earlier, he doesn't think it could have happened by itself."_

"What does he think did happen?"

"_Someone tampered with the power."_

The first thought that passed through was about the Wraith virus, but that was so long ago and they had gotten rid of it…

"_And the security cameras on level three skipped about twenty minutes."_

This really wasn't sounding good, "Keep working to find out who did this, is there anything else?"

"_Well… you're not going to like this either."_

"What is it, doctor?"

"_We've discovered that last night the transporter was activated, we don't know where to yet though."_

"There's only one place to go. Whoever or whatever sabotaged the ship is no longer here, they're on Atlantis." He got up as the link severed and headed to the Bridge.

---

Radek was once again leading the group as they headed to the third generator, after that they still had three more to go. The contact with Earth had also brought more generators. He was debating splitting up to get everything done sooner when his radio activated.

"_Dr. Zelenka, I'm sending two men to accompany you. This might be sabotage."_

Radek stopped walking at the sound of Lorne's voice, "Then get them down here right away."

"_They're approaching your position."_

"Ok, good." He turned to the other two, "We're going to have company."

Irene looked a little nervous, "Why?"

Radek tried to be light-hearted, "You know, military precautions and the like for possible sabotage."

"Our second day here and it already is eventful." Jin breezed past them and into the room for Generator 6. It was the next one in the circle of the city.

Irene looked at Radek, "He can be impatient." She also walked into the room.

Left alone in the hall, he looked to the end to see two Marines heading towards him, he waved and motioned he was going in, and turned.

His gaze was still down the hall when he stepped a foot into the room and as he turned his head to where he expected Dr.'s Costello and Hong to be standing, he saw them lying on the ground.

Then there was a flash of blue as his body buckled, paralyzing pain going through his limbs. His knees gave out and he collapsed, crumpled on his side. As his eyes closed, he caught a glimpse of a black garment draped behind black shoes.

---

Alexa Stroh ran up the stairs to the Gateroom in a hurry. She had tried paging Radek, but he wasn't answering, which was very unusual. Bryan was hunched over a console conducting the scans Dr. Weir ordered when she approached him.

"Have you heard from Dr. Zelenka?"

The Sergeant looked up at her, "Last thing I heard was that Major Lorne sent two other marines to his position."

"Why?"

"There's a possible saboteur in the city. Generator 1 had the same malfunction as Generator 2."

Her response was cut off when Bryan raised his hand to his earpiece, "Yes, Colonel. Just a moment."

He gave his attention back to her, "It's only a precaution ma'am."

"Yes, but… could you try to contact them?"

Bryan nodded and turned back away talking into his radio, "Major Lorne, have your men reached the Doctors yet?"…… "Ok, sir."

Alexa looked on anxiously as Bryan waited for a response. She bit her bottom lip as the moments passed by.

"I'll alert Dr. Weir." He pressed button on the headset, "Sorry to interrupt, ma'am, but Major Lorne has lost contact with Roberts and Balsa."…… "Yes… alright."

He connected again with Lorne, "Assemble more teams, whoever this is attempted to destroy the Daedalus also." … … "Ok, sir."

Alexa was now hiding her hysterics very well when Bryan turned back to her, "Major Lorne is heading to where they knew Dr.'s Zelenka, Hong, and Costello last were. I'm sure they're fine."

"I hope so."

-

"We can handle it Colonel. Now the problem is where did they come from?" Elizabeth sat at her desk talking through the communication systems to the Daedalus that was now landed on the East Pier.

"_I don't believe it's one of my crew, but they were able to tamper with the ship." Stephen eyed the people surrounding him as he sat in the Captain's chair._

"And they were able to almost destroy our generators. Maybe they are a stowaway from Earth?"

"_Someone who is disgruntled over the Expedition… seems possible but we just ran a head check three days ago."_

She didn't want to suggest it but it had to be said, "The ship is large and a Wraith can hibernate."

"_Yes, I'd advise your men to be careful."_

"But your last actual encounter with Wraith was months ago though."

_The Colonel nodded his head, "When you needed a bit of help with the siege."_

Elizabeth suggested, "One might have managed to beam on your ship."

"_I'll make sure we do a complete sweep, there might have been more than one."_

"We'll do the same."

"_Any luck with Lt. Colonel Sheppard and his team?"_

"No, but Sergeant Grimault did find background information about the fissure. The same occurrence happened when the Ancients were here, and it faded away after a total of four days."

"_A little good news is always welcome."_

Elizabeth countered with, "It is, but somehow it comes with worse."

---

Major Lorne signaled to his two men to stay directly behind him as he walked against the wall of a hallway. He was holding his P90 at the ready position being supported by his left arm, and a life-signs detector with his left hand.

He was reading five life-signs and mentally checked off the possibility each one corresponded to the right people – the three scientists and the two marines, but he had the gut-wrenching feeling that four could be Expedition members, the other belonging to the saboteur, maybe a Wraith.

They reached the door and saw it was closed. The lieutenant and captain moved to the right side, also with their P90s at the ready.

With a nod of the head, Major Lorne thought 'open' and the door, and it slid with a 'whoosh.' They peered in, scanning the area, prepared to fire.

Right in front of the door lied Balsa and Roberts, their P90s still attached to their vests. The lieutenant checked their pulses and gave a signal to Lorne that they were alive. They saw the three scientists also on the ground and spread out into the room, finding nothing.

Major Lorne breathed a little easier and radioed the infirmary, "I need a med team to Generator 1. Five people down, no serious injuries."

"_Be right there, Major." Nurse Carolyn responded._

Lorne thought about the situation, he now had four other teams actively sweeping the city with all on alert. They would find the culprit.

---

Things were definitely getting complicated that day, Elizabeth realized as the notification came in that Zelenka, Costello, and Hong were now incapacitated, most likely by a Wraith stunner. She quickly decided on whom to send with a military escort to the last four generators to make sure they wouldn't overload and explode.

She opened a link, "Dr. Stroh, I need you and Simpson to finish the generator repairs."

"_Why, what happened to Radek?" She was still outside in the Control Room._

Elizabeth recognized the worry in her voice, "His team are being transported to the infirmary, they were only stunned. They will be fine." She began to walk out to the Control Room.

"_Alright. We'll take care of it."_

The link shut down and Dr. Weir walked out to see Alexa running down the stairs and Dr. Philippe Mauseu walking up. _Just what I need._ She sighed and turned to Sgt. Grimault, "Anything unusual yet?"

"The life-signs around the generators have been accounted for. Wraith or not, it's now in the more populated sections of the city among the other signs. I'm calibrating it to pick up only a Wraith signal and notified the teams."

"Good work." She saw Philippe out of the corner of her eye, and braced herself for a stand-of. He neared and walked past her without a word, heading directly over to another scientist that came the day before, a dark-haired German. He touched the woman's shoulder gently, caringly, and she smiled at him. Elizabeth breathed with relief, having one more problem done with.

---

Sergeant Stackhouse walked with his team through the outermost hallway of quarters in the south section. It was a little too quiet, even for that time of the day. The detector was picking up three signs around the corner and the three person group approached cautiously.

Captain Elm was first and in a flash was down on the ground.

Stackhouse and Pine began to fire as a white haired form began to emerge from around the corner, but it kept coming, holding out a hand-stunner and firing itself.

Its long black coat swept the ground.

Pine went down, her brown hair coming untied at the back of her head and Stackhouse fired his last shot before the blast from the Wraith's weapon hit him square in the chest.

As his body shut down he thought, _So this is how this feels. It sucks._ His knees gave out and he fell to the ground, sensing the Wraith over him and reaching out, then he went black.

* * *

**A/N:** Back to the sub in the next installment…

I hope to keep reading those comments! Thanks so much, and for reading too and sticking around. Looks like a total of 13 or 14 chapters… I think.


	11. Unwinding

**A/N:** Hey thanks for the reviews once more, and all you reading for reading this!

* * *

**Chapter 11**_-Unwinding_

"No."

"Just for a little while."

"No, Sheppard." Ronon stared at John defiantly.

John sat in the pilot's chair, not letting on about the brain-melting pain that was now radiating not only through his head, but moving down his neck. "It really can't be _that_ bad."

At Ronon's glare, John admitted, "Okay so it's my second worst nightmare, the first being stuck in his head."

"You know my position then."

"Yes."

"I'm not agreeing to it." Ronon crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair, hiding his own physical pain well.

John stated, "It won't be for long."

Ronon countered just as-matter-of-factly, "He said he didn't know how to release control."

"True." John relaxed down into his own chair, wondering if they would ever get back. He thought he should have turned the sub around the first moment D.W. began to yell at him. Then they would be back home, safe as they could be in the Pegasus Galaxy, Rodney wouldn't be fading away 1.2 leagues under the sea, and his copy would already be out of Ronon. If only.

"You cannot force him to do something he refuses, Colonel." Teyla said quietly but sternly.

"I know."

"It's his choice, and we will deal with the consequences." As she spoke, she kept an eye on Ronon, something he did not miss.

Ronon turned his attention back to the Colonel, "How could you be sure I wouldn't stay this way?"

"Because when we get back to Atlantis, Zelenka will fix this again, like he did the last time."

"He wasn't perfect the last time." Ronon came closer than he ever had to snipping and it reminded John and Teyla eerily of Rodney. They started to wonder if the scientist was influencing him.

"Well, if you wouldn't go touching things you didn't know…" He raised his forehead questionably, "why did you do that again?"

Ronon blew him off, "It doesn't matter, now."

"Yes it does."

"No."

John tipped his head forward a little to take the tension out of his neck, "Yes, don't make me order you to tell me, it's affecting the team."

Ronon scowled, "I was… anxious."

"Scared?" John asked.

Ronon continued to glare at him, "Nervous."

"Frightened," Colonel Sheppard teased as Teyla looked on amusedly.

"Uneasy!" Ronon practically jumped out of the chair to the protest of his body.

"Okay, okay." John went on sarcastically, "So you decided to browse storage rooms in the middle of the night."

"Yes…" He relaxed back into his seat.

Teyla interjected, "How would that help?"

"I thought it would help to know more Ancestor technology."

She continued, "Because you were going to go thousands of feet underwater in something of their design?"

"Yes."

"What a plan." John almost scoffed. "Next time, go along with one of the scientists or something. Speaking of scientists-"

"No."

"You do realize we're not going to get off the ocean floor and back to Atlantis without Rodney altering that generator and the engines, right?"

Ronon nodded to the Colonel, "Yes."

"Well then…just," John gestured with his hand, "let him out."

Ronon again glared at him.

"I know it's not exactly a … pleasant experience to look forward to, but if you have another option, I'm open to hear it."

"I don't, not with McKay back there unconscious."

"So…"

Ronon took a deep breath and closed his eyes without a word.

Teyla and John both knew it wasn't an easy thing they were asking Ronon to do, to let his body be controlled by someone else, but there wasn't another choice. Sure John could pilot the sub as it is but the Diagnostic system he nicknamed most likely wouldn't let him and by its calculations, he would wear out before they got out of the fields caused by the fissure and send them plummet back to the ocean floor.

They watched as Ronon breathed deeply, they saw his muscles relax, the rising and falling of his chest slow, and then his head twitch just enough to be noticed.

His muscles tensed back up and his eyes opened.

"McKay?"

"What Colonel?"

"It's nice to see… talk to you again but you have to modify the power generator now."

"Oh I do, do I? Is that all I'm good for, to fix things?"

Teyla placed her hand on his shoulder, "What he's trying to say is that we need more power to pull ourselves out of the force of the fissure, and soon because we need to get out of here."

Copy-Rodney turned around and glanced at the back, "To save myself, huh? Not to mention the rest of you. My last act as a living… consciousness. Doesn't beat dying saving children, but I'll take what I can get."

"Rodney…"

"No, Teyla, don't say anything, I know what will happen to me once we get back." He turned to John, "You said something about the generator?"

"Yea, D.W. said we needed more power to break away from the gravitational and magnetic fields."

"D.W.?"

Teyla shrugged, "The Colonel has named the Diagnostic and Warning System."

Copy-Rodney scoffed at John, "And _you_ banned Ford from naming things."

"I thought it was good."

"So you actually talked to the system?"

"Uh huh."

"Well…"

"Well what?"

"Do I have to spell it out for your military mind? What else did it say, what was it like, did you see anything…?"

Teyla found herself laughing in her head at seeing such a personality as Rodney McKay's coming out of Ronon Dex's body. It was one of the bizarre things she had seen up close. But then her thoughts turned to the original Rodney…they really needed to get back. John also needed medical attention, not to mention Ronon who she knew also hid his pain as Rodney did when he had control, as he was most likely doing now because there were other more important things to do.

As the two men talked about D.W. and what exactly it had told John what to do, she went to the back.

Rodney was lying in the same position as she left him, her jacket still stretched over his chest. He still looked the same with a pale face and after a quick check of his vitals she determined the rest was the same too, still cold. She looked around the back section, looking for anything else to keep him warm, wondering why there weren't any of those silver thermal blankets around.

She assumed it was since no one had thought they would ever be needed, it wasn't as if they were going to leave the submarine and go out into somewhere cold, all there would be was water wherever a submarine mission was. Teyla settled back into the position she was in only a few minutes earlier, with Rodney's head on her lap and her leaning against the wall of the sub.

---

"Hey, are you ready?"

Dr. Susan Simpson looked over at the lieutenant standing at the lab door, "As long as you're here, we are." She helped Alexa pack up the last of their gear.

"Good, let's go fix our city." Laura Cadman clutched the P90 close and tapped her foot impatiently.

As she looked up, Alexa commented, "Just make sure you don't go getting into my head. I wouldn't be able to handle it. It's a wonder McKay didn't throw himself off the balcony."

"Hey! I'm not the only one with history with him. I recall getting a… apprehensive feeling from him every time you were around."

"So you've told me." She brushed past the lieutenant and the corporal that was with her.

"And two, there's no darts in the middle of the city and three, don't tease me, or you're not invited to the next Poker Night in my quarters."

"Then you don't get any beer, it's all in my room." Dr. Stroh grinned innocently while Susan and Corporal Tina Maywether made eye contact and held back laughter.

Laura stared right at Alexa, "Are you threatening me, Doctor?"

"Yes, Lieutenant, I believe that's the American expression."

"She'd better be coming, ma'am, or Katie will have your head." Tina stated, almost chuckling but she continued to hold it back, not wanting to laugh out loud at her superior officer, especially on duty. At the poker nights however…

"Are you kidding? That little woman couldn't stand a fight with me."

"No, but she does have a lot of friends in the other science departments. Dr.'s Stroh and Zelenka included, not to mention McKay, ma'am."

"And me." Susan joined Alexa further out in the hallway.

"Okay, okay, I get the point everyone. Sheesh! Wait, I thought the thing between McKay and Katie didn't work out."

"That doesn't mean he wouldn't take the opportunity to turn your hair blue, ma'am."

Laura chose to ignore that comment and turned to the other women, "You two said you were ready right?"

"Uh huh." They both nodded.

"Then why are we standing here?"

Alexa cocked her head, wanting to leave and get the generator's fixed. "Because you kept talking."

"I wasn't the only one." Lt. Cadman walked down the hallway, followed directly by the two doctors and Corporal Maywether stayed behind them, a classic sandwich move.

---

Lorne and his team were at a full run down the outer halls of Atlantis. He had just tried contacting Stackhouse and his team, but there was no response, only quiet. The Sergeant wasn't the type not to answer his radio, so he immediately head to where he knew they last were, hoping to find them all still… young.

They were finally in range and Lorne detected four life-signs, a good sign as far as he was concerned. There was the three-person team and one extra…

One blip moved from its stationary position and moved to another one that didn't move. The first sign engulfed the other and stayed there.

The Major urged his team on as he watched the blip move again, but leaving no others behind. There was a total of three now, and he cringed at the horrific conclusion there was a Wraith in the city.

As they came to the last hallway, he again watched as the first sign went to one of the other two and merge with it.

He signaled silently to the other two members of his search team and they took position as they approached the quiet hallway. Lorne was thankful there were stacks of cases and boxes from Earth along the sides, leaving an almost perfect set-up for cover.

He stayed on the right side of the hall, crouched behind a three-foot tall stack and the others went to the left side hidden in a similar manner.

It only took a second to see the Wraith's back turned to them as it was braced on its toes over a body dressed in a military uniform and obviously feeding.

The two junior officers commenced firing as soon as Major Lorne began to. The Wraith turned around snarling, firing its own weapon, and flinching at every bullet that hit its torso. The male managed to move behind a crate on its own side, but to the team they saw that it really fell to the ground.

They stopped firing, unsure of whether it was alive or dead.

---

As they walked, the marines kept an always alert stance, searching the area while Alexa and Susan remained quiet. The halls got less and less populated and more eerie to the group.

Dr. Stroh's thoughts kept leading from the generators, to the idea of a Wraith intruder, which led to the attack on Radek and the others, which then led her thoughts to an image of the Czech lying in an infirmary bed. She hadn't actually seen it, but her imagination conjured it up. After pushing it out and repeating that he was fine, she focused back on what they had to do.

They entered the room that housed Generator 6, the one where the others had been attacked and then carted off to the infirmary. It only brought up the images in Alexa's mind again, but once more she focused on their professional duty.

Lt. Cadman and Cp. Maywether stayed by the door as the two scientists unpacked their own gear. In their earlier rush, they didn't realize Costello, Zelenka, and Hong's gear would still be there and still packed.

---

Lorne looked at the detector and at the three life-signs before signaling to his men to move forward, that the Wraith was still alive, and to fix that problem. They got up from their positions with the caution of Marines and walked with their P90s ready.

The Major finally had the change to take a survey of the area. He counted three bodies, two on the farther side, the person the Wraith had been feeding on included. From his distance, he could see the withered skin of the two and he turned his attention to the other body.

He stood to get a closer look when he saw a flash of blue and one of his men go down, followed a second later by the other.

The Wraith sat up, weapon in hand and hissed at the inconvenience that was now plaguing him. It spied Major Lorne and raised its hand stunner in his direction.

Lorne immediately ducked behind the crates as a blast flew over his head. With his breath elevated the slightest, he opened a link to the other teams and to the Control Balcony.

"It's Lorne, I have five men down in corridor 23S. Request backup for the _Wraith_."

"_On our way, sir."_

Lorne grinned with relief at the voice that responded to him belonging to the man that took down three Wraith at once with a strategically placed grenade during the Siege, "Hurry up Captain. It's a mean one." He responded as another blast past over him.

He saw on the detector that the soldier the Wraith last fed on no longer had a life-signal. Anger bubbled through him as he saw the Wraith's blip walking away, further down the corridor.

He muttered, "No, you don't," and stood to follow quickly.

With his own P90 clutched firmly in his grip he passed his two men who were just stunned and then the other uniformed body. The first thing he noticed on the man's chest was a Wraith handprint and the corresponding blood around the wound.

Then he finally noticed the man's face, his non-wrinkled and still young face.

"You are one lucky son of a bitch." He bent down to shake him, "Come on, Stacks." The Sergeant didn't move, "Alright, be back later." He got up and ran after the Wraith, not having the time to think about why the creature had stopped feeding on the man. He passed two other withered bodies on the way out, in scientist uniforms.

---

"_Request backup for the _Wraith_."_

"_On our way, sir."_

Corporal Maywether looked at Cadman after the communications over their radios stopped.

Laura replied, "The Major and Captain's team can handle one Wraith. McIntyre has been here since the beginning."

"Yes, ma'am." Tina shifted her weight and kept her eyes glued to the hallway.

Alexa and Susan looked up from their work repairing the generator that indeed did have a malfunction. They questioned simultaneously, "Wraith?"

Cadman looked back, "Not anywhere near here doctors."

"Good."

"We're done, let's go." Susan unplugged her laptop as Alexa grabbed the rest of their equipment.

"Three left." Cadman checked the hall and led the way to the next generator. The group moved quickly, wanting to reach each one before they overloaded, a distinct possibility if the Wraith had gotten to all of them. Then there wouldn't be much a city left.

---

"What do you see?"

"Uh, a really long spiral… thing." John yelled from the front of the Jumper.

"And what is it doing?" Copy-Rodney snipped from the back as he was sitting on the ground, a panel open in front of him.

John focused on the image that was in his mind, "It's not doing much, just glowing a little, it's pretty faint." The Colonel was connected to D.W., but not totally like before since he needed to be able to hear and talk to copy-Rodney.

Rodney grumbled in Ronon's voice.

"I take it that's not what it's supposed to be doing?" Teyla looked over at him from her sitting position.

"Not if we want more power to the engines." He snipped again.

She looked back down at the original Rodney's face, it still looked the same and if she didn't know better, he was only sleeping. He did warm up though, snuggled under her jacket and laying on her lap. Teyla stroked his hair ignoring that her legs had fallen asleep.

Copy-Rodney scooted forward a little to better reach the inner workings of the submarine. He stretched Ronon's arm far into the compartment, needing to tweak a part. Even though D.W. couldn't exactly say how to modify the power system, the insight it was giving John was a substantial help.

They had been working on it for what seemed like forever when John yelled, "Hey! The spiral thing is getting bright!"

"How bright?" Copy-Rodney yelled equally as loud.

"Like I wish I could wear sunglasses in the virtual world bright."

"_You should make it to the surface without problems now." The female computerized voice echoed in the Colonel's mind._

"Thanks D.W." He responded.

"Can we get going now or are you going to sit there all day?" He slammed the panel closed and stood.

"Yes, Rodney." John called from the front.

"Because the generator isn't stable right now since I needed to modify it so much."

Teyla asked concerned, "How unstable?"

"We should be fine during the time it will take to get back to the city but not much longer than that."

"This better work." The Colonel concentrated and the submarine lifted off the ocean floor again. This time, he wasn't straining himself to pilot it, and D.W. wasn't yelling at him.

---

Lorne slowed down as he approached the Wraith's position. It was moving to Generator 3, on the opposite side of the city than the one the repair team just left.

To his right was another hall and he spotted Captain McIntyre and his three-person team creep silently up the hall towards him. The marine waved to Lorne who waved back knowing how it was a little funny that the Captain always waved to everyone, even in times like these. It eased the situation.

They reached Major Lorne's position and he saw they each had a stunner, McIntyre handed him the fifth one he was carrying. They silently made a plan, signaling to each other.

Lorne and two of the others advanced further, following the Wraith as McIntyre took the other two with him, back down the way they came. That hall had another one branching off to the left, the end of which the Wraith had to pass.

The Major kept ahead of the other two marines that were with him, hurrying to get close to the saboteur before it passed McIntyre's hallway.

The Wraith walked through the corridor crowded with more boxes unknowingly walking into a trap. Lorne could now see it and by the clicking of his radio, he knew McIntyre was in position at the hall he could see opening into this one.

Then they all opened fire.

The air filled with stunner-blasts and the Wraith never knew what hit him. He was down on the ground, this time out for the count.

All the soldiers stepped cautiously towards it and while keeping his weapon aimed just in case, Lorne finally got a chance to greet the Captain.

"Well, nice of you to give me a hand."

McIntyre grinned, "Always, sir. Now, why don't we take this piece of trash to some accommodations?"

Lorne looked down at the figure, "Yea, before it wakes up."

* * *

**A/N:** I forgot to mention that Dr. Irene Costello, Dr. Jin Hong, and Corporal Tina Maywether are mine. The 'tree' people- Balsa, Pine, and Elm are too…that started in _Phantom Thoughts_ with a corny joke with Captain Balsa and Dr. Wood, then I didn't want to think of names for characters that appear like, once. So there you go. If they're a tree , odds are they won't be back. Sort of my own redshirts. If TPTB ever actually name Alexa and Bryan and give Simpson a first name, then I'll change that. 


	12. Ascent

**A/N:** Why does everyone think I have something up my sleeve? Am I that evil?

Ok, so I am. Muahahaha!

It's official, this will be longer than _Phantom Thoughts_ in word count. Odd how I originally thought it would be dramatically shorter. Two more chapters after this one.

--not beta-d yet, busy lives…

* * *

**Chapter 12**_-Ascent_

He felt as if something was bogging him down, keeping him from opening his eyes and from moving. Reality stayed just out of his reach, cloaked in a cloudy haze. By touch, he could feel a pillow under his head and a light blanket stretched over his body, and he could barely hear someone in the background.

"That's the common description."

Was that Carson? But what was he doing down by the generators…

"You've never had the chance to find out yourself?"

Wait, now that was Dr. Costello… Radek felt his fingers starting to tingle…

"Oh heavens no, and hopefully I never will."

"Well that doesn't seem right, we've been her for exactly twenty-seven hours and you have for over a year."

Radek picked up his hand and the simple motion brought him fully into being alert, and that included to the pins and needles now spreading throughout his body.

"There have been a few other instances, Dr. Hong. As you have found out today, going off-world isn't necessary to encounter them."

"That is evident."

"It seems that Dr. Zelenka has joined us." Irene stated as she noticed him moving his hand to rub his face.

Carson immediately walked over from Dr.'s Hong and Costello's infirmary beds to Radek's and checked his eyes with that darn penlight he always has, "How ya feeling?"

Radek responded as he looked around the room, "Tingly."

"I was just telling those two that it will pass in a few minutes."

"Wraith stunner?"

"I'm afraid so."

Radek gulped, "There's a Wraith in the city? I was hoping I only imagined seeing one's feet."

"It's here alright, but Major Lorne and Captain McIntyre have it locked up in the brig."

"Is everyone okay?"

Carson sighed, "Pine, Elm, and Dr.'s Jones and White. Sergeant Stackhouse somehow manage to get away, I'm waiting for him to wake up in the other room."

"Oh my… four people…"

"I wouldn't want to be in its position with Major Lorne, not to mention when Colonel Sheppard gets back."

"They're still not here?"

"No, and we're without communication yet also." Carson made sure to keep the worry from his voice.

Radek put his head back on the pillow and muttered, "I think I need a drink."

---

Major Lorne stood over an unconscious Sergeant, timing it to when the young man should wake up. He should really have been awake by now, or at least will be very soon. He couldn't help but think how lucky the man was, to have a Wraith stop feeding on him so early, with no explanation. It had the whole medical team in a buzz brainstorming reasons.

All Lorne cared about at that moment was that it meant one less soldier down, one less the Colonel had to write home about, leaving almost everything out. How do you write a letter informing someone's family their child, spouse, parent, or sibling is dead, but died with honor, without talking about the Wraith, the Stargate Program, or the Pegasus Galaxy to bring them closure?

He didn't know the scientists killed but by the reaction of their department, they were well liked, and just out for a walk. Talk about a case of the wrong place at the wrong time. The soldiers were new recruits from Stargate Command, shipped off on the Daedalus.

The day had started out with a boring breakfast of oatmeal and fruit, and somehow turned out into one of the unusual days that he had grown accustom to since being at the SGC. Granted, what he was facing every day was no person with a snake in their heads or in their stomachs, but something that sucked the life out of you with their hands and thought of you as nothing but food, instead of a slave, host, or an enemy of their god.

He was determined to be there when the young man woke up, so Lorne pulled up a chair and sat down. He had to think about how he was going to handle the Wraith that was currently taking residence where Steve and Bob did. He could wait until Lt. Col. Sheppard got back, but they had no idea when that would be, or even if… no, he was going to be back because there was no way he was going to have Caldwell as his CO, Sheppard probably just got a little sidetracked, McKay saw something interesting…

Lorne sprang up again when he heard the Sergeant groan and saw him move his hand a little. "Stacks pull on through now."

"Major?" He asked groggily.

"That would be me." He was on the man's right side, his hand resting on the bed.

"My team… there's a Wraith…"  
"We got it in the brig."

Stackhouse shook his head to wake up and avoided thinking about the pins and needles effect, "My team, sir?"

"I'm sorry." Lorne squeezed the man's shoulder gently, "They didn't make it."

Stackhouse's face turned from worried to grieving to stone cold in a second flat, a look Lorne had seen too many times on too many faces through is career. In a flash of red scrubs, Stackhouse threw the light blue blanket off and was on his feet.

Lorne reacted just as quickly, moving between him and the door and grabbing him by the shoulders, aware of the IV line that was dragging behind him. Stackhouse didn't stop trying to get around him, the adrenaline blocking out the warnings his body was trying to send.

"Sergeant! Stand down!" He looked into the man's eyes that continued to stay lifeless though his body calmed and he stood still.

"With all due respect sir, that thing didn't kill your team."

Lorne kept his voice in military sternness, "I understand that, but you are in no condition to take revenge on a Wraith right now."

With a few deep breaths, Stackhouse could feel his body go weak as the adrenaline faded away; his knees buckled and gave out. But Lorne kept him up and yelled back out of the room, "Doc! I need some help in here!" He turned back and got Stackhouse back on the bed.

"I've been stunned before sir, but I… it wasn't like this." His face was no longer cold and emotionless.

Lorne kept his hand on Stackhouse's shoulder and softened his voice, "You weren't just stunned."

A flash of understanding spread across his face and he brought his hand to his chest, pulling the top of his shirt out so he could look down. He saw a large bandage. "How bad is it?" He kept his eyes off of his superior officer as he looked at the skin on his hands and arms.

"It's nothing to worry about, just a scratch."

"You called for me- oh Sergeant, you're awake." Carson plastered a smile across his face as he walked in the room. "You're quite an anomaly, lad. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty weird, I can't move too well yet and my chest of course hurts."

Carson took a hold of his wrist, "Your motor skills will be back to full functioning soon." He squeezed to apply pressure, "Can you feel that?" Carson was satisfied with a nod from the Sergeant.

"He didn't seem to have a problem with motor skills a moment ago." Lorne remarked.

"What do you mean?"

The two military men looked at each other, a moment of understanding passing between them and Stackhouse answered Dr. Beckett, "I attempted to leave your establishment a little early and ran to the door. It must have worn me out."

Carson scolded, "Don't go trying that again until I release you."

"Yes, doctor."

Carson went back to being genial and gentle with the next subject, "We need to discuss exactly why you're…"

"Alive? Yea I'm wondering that myself doc." Stackhouse rubbed his chest.

"It's incredible, honestly. From what I can tell, the Wraith stopped after a few seconds, not long enough to do any real damage to you but enough to… get a sampling."

"It _tasted_ me?" He fought the urge to crawl up into a ball since that wouldn't be manly, and the urge for revenge came back.

"Now that is just plain freaky." Just when Lorne thought the Wraith couldn't get any stranger, "The one we have locked up is a picky eater?"

"That would be one explanation and the simplest," He directed his speech at the Sergeant, "or there could be something in your specific makeup."

"Maybe it was something he ate." The Major said jokingly.

But instead of laughing, Carson cocked his head in thought, "What have you eaten in the past twenty-four hours? Don't leave anything out."

Stackhouse crossed his arms in contemplation, "For lunch yesterday the mess had spaghetti and garlic bread, and for dinner I made a chicken dish, rice, and a salad."

"You cook?" Lorne raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, sir. My mom taught me, she said she didn't want us boys starving in our 'bachelor apartments' like my father was when she met him. A man had to know how to take care of himself."

Carson hid a smile at the similarity between his and the young man's mothers, "Continue, please."

"Oh right, then for breakfast was the oatmeal and fruit in the mess and for lunch I made a sandwich."

"Hmm." Carson crossed his arms, his clipboard hitting his side.

"Is that an 'I have an idea hmm'?"

"It's an 'I'm thinking hmm', Major."

"Oh, right." Lorne decided to shut up and let the man think.

"Are you leaving anything out, a snack maybe? What were you drinking?"

"I've been drinking water, coffee, or juice and I had some garlic stuffed olives last night."

Lorne questioned, "Where did you get garlic stuffed olives?"

"My mom sent them through Cheyenne Mountain. The Daedalus brought the package along with the other mail."

"What did you make your dinner with?"

"I grilled the chicken, well it was really that bird from P6X- 232, and topped it off with garlic salsa, the salad was a combination of vegetables from the mainland with an olio santo dressing, and the rice was the Pegasus Galaxy's version of rice with an onion type vegetable I chopped up and roasted with garlic."

"I see a pattern developing here."

"As do I. What was in your sandwich?" Beckett could almost hear the gears moving in his head.

"Pretty plain, just bologna and mustard."

"What sort of mustard?"

"Gar…" Stackhouse suddenly realized what the other two men were thinking, "Garlic honey. You really don't think that the Wraith are allergic to garlic or something?"

"Well, I don't know quite yet, but by judging that every food you've eaten except breakfast this morning contained some sort of garlic, even your salad dressing, maybe it made you less appetizing." Carson jotted down this rather remarkable detail down on the clipboard he brought in with him.

"So he tasted funny to the Wraith? We all take garlic supplements and they won't bother us?"

"It could just be a matter of preference." Carson checked the monitors for the Sergeant's stats.

Lorne continued, "We have a Wraith locked up in the brig with a serious aversion to garlic… and I thought this all was weird ten minutes ago."

Stackhouse looked down at the IV he practically ripped out when trying to flee the room, "It's sort of normal for us Pegasus Galaxy veterans."

"Wait… where did you get garlic mustard, salsa, and olio santo oil?" Major Lorne looked down at the young man.

Stackhouse shrugged, "My mom knows I like them. Once she found out we would receive mail regularly, she kept sending stuff." He ended with a smile.

Not to be outdone the Major countered with, "Well, my mom sends me chocolate chip cookies."

"My mum sends Brodie's or Taylor's tea and oatcakes, though the cakes aren't the best thing to transport."

Lorne remarked, "Oat _cake_? What is that?"

"The oatcake is not a cake at all really."

The two Americans just looked at the Scotsman very confusedly who responded, "Don't know much about cooking where I'm from then? No, of course not."

"Yea, we're just a little lost here, doc. So he'll be fine though, right?"

"Aye, but there'll be an overnight stay just as a precaution." Beckett noticed their looks and stared down both of them, "And don't go pulling a Colonel and trying to escape, it never ends well."

Lorne mildly mocked hurt, "How could you think we would do such a thing?"

"I'm only preventing a habit from beginning." He turned back to Sgt. Stackhouse, "Get some rest."

"I will."

Major Lorne said a goodbye-for-now and followed Dr. Beckett out, "Do you think the mess hall will have some garlic?"

Carson stopped walking, "What do you have in mind?"

"Nothing yet really, just wondering."

"You would have to ask." He eyed the American soldier carefully.

"Alright, thanks anyway." Lorne left quickly on his own mission.

---

"Do do do do, do do do. Do do do do, do dododododo… Do do do-"

"Maj- Colonel, will you stop with the Jeopardy thing already?" Rodney snapped in Ronon's voice, it bellowing through the submarine.

"I'm just passing the time."

"Well, think of something else."

John leaned back in the pilot's seat, "Any requests? Some Johnny Cash maybe-"

"No! Don't sing, hum, or anything remotely associated with either."

"Jeeze, what got into you?"

"I would like to spend my last few hours in relative peace, Ma-… Colonel. You just had to go get promoted, didn't you? I would never get used to that." He crossed Ronon's arms.

"Your last few hours?"

"Yeah, come on, I do know that as soon as we walk off the sub, you and Carson will drag me to wherever you decided to leave Garin's console and rip me out of here."

John ran his fingers through his still semi-short hair, "You don't have to make it sound like _that_."

"Like what? Like how it'll be? There's no way Elizabeth is going to let me stay in here, no way Ronon is, and there's no way I want to. It's not _my_ body, it's just too …"

"Big?"

"Well, yea. I've spent the last week of my life fighting for my own body back, and I'm not going to stay in this one, I can't. Hell, it's not even right. If I were Ronon I'd be seriously pissed, I was pissed with Garin."

"That was different though."

"True enough, he did completely take over with no intention if ever leaving. I on the other hand will be gone in … 2 hours and fifteen minutes."

"We'll be back in the city sooner than that."

"Why?" Copy-Rodney squinted Ronon's eyes.

"The moment we established radio contact, I'm having the Daedalus beam us out. Rodney back there can't wait."

"Yea…I forgot there's a ship now. I do intend to stay around until then just incase something starts to go wrong. With our luck, something usually does."

"Nothing is going to."

"Riiight."

"I mean it. What could, a giant sea monster comes and attacks us?"

"We're still under 18,446 meters of ocean, I'm sure there's some sort of creature that lives at this depth. Haven't read Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea have you? They almost got crumpled by a giant squid."

John replied sarcastically, "Full of optimism aren't you?"

"When one is a walking dead man, you don't have optimism."

"We're out from the fissure enough to contact Atlantis now, right?" They had tried about ten minutes ago, but at their greater speed they covered more distance.

"Yea, go ahe- oh my god…"

John looked over at Copy Rodney who was staring out the window and followed his line of sight. "I guess I spoke too soon."

They both stared at a creature that was so large they couldn't see around it, and its mouth was open and angled down at their angle of ascent.

"Turn, turn, turn…" Copy-Rodney anxiously stammered out.

"I am!" John glided the sub to the left.

"Because I really don't want to be eaten by a… what is that a whale?"

"One damn big whale!" John steered the sub, but the creature kept maneuvering in their way.

Teyla heard the commotion and ran from the back where she was sitting with the original Rodney. "I heard you -"She paused as she looked out the window, "I've never see an animal that large…"

Copy-Rodney exclaimed, "Large! The thing's enormous!"

"I wonder if it has a name." She sat down behind John as he piloted, trying to stay away from the creature's mouth.

Rodney snipped worriedly, "Who cares, it's trying to eat us."

"We most likely look like one of its normal prey." She kept her eyes on the creature. The sheer size was fascinating, but she would much rather observe it from a safe place.

"A fish as big as a sub? I'd hate to see one of those things." Colonel Sheppard took the submarine in a nosedive.

"What, what are you doing?" Rodney again stammered.

"Going under it. Try Atlantis."

"Oh, right." He hit the communications, "Atlantis this is Sub…"

"One!" John yelled.

"Right, One, we have a problem down here. A really, really, big problem."

"_We read you, where have you all been?"_

John gritted his teeth as he had the sub moving through the water under the creature. "No time for that Sergeant. We need to be transported out of here."

_Bryan opened communications to Caldwell, "Keep talking, the Daedalus will have to use your radio signal, you're not exactly clear on the sensors yet."_

They came out behind the animal, "Okay… we need a med team waiting in the bay then."

"_You got it, sir. Anything else?"_

"Just tell me Atlantis has been calm the past few hours." He had pretty much all he could take that day.

Rodney brought up a screen much like radar and it showed a large blip still behind them.

Teyla commented, "It's following us."

"_I wish I could, sir… Are you ready now?"_

"More than ready!" John and Copy-Rodney both yelled.

John didn't have time to contemplate Bryan's last response as the sub was enveloped in white light.

---

Lorne walked into the room and stood next to Captain McIntyre, who observed him carefully and quietly asked, "Sir, how's Stackhouse and what's with the… garlic?"

He kept the bowl balanced in his left hand, "He's fine and you'll see." The Major left the other man standing by the doorway with a bemused look on his face, along with the other guard, both carried stunners.

The Wraith was standing still, facing the other way from the doors. When he heard the talking, he turned around. His long black coat almost swept the ground and his white dreadlocks hung in front of his yellow and tallow skin.

Lorne got the distinct impression this Wraith wasn't an ordinary, low-in-the-ranks Wraith, it was dressed much the same way the one he and Dr. Parrish had run into on P3M-736, the one that had been chasing Ronon Dex.

They stood in silence a moment until the Major pulled over a chair and sat down, keeping the Wraith in the corner of his eye at all times. He leaned back with the steel bowl in his lap, whistling slightly as he lifted it out of another steel bowl, the noise of steel on steel echoing throughout the brig, and set it on the ground.

McIntyre held back a grin as Lorne began to peel the garlic cloves, slowly, discarding the skins in the second bowl. He knew the Major was up to something, what that something was he had no idea.

The silence continued in the room, perpetrated only by the crinkling of garlic skins.

"Do you have a name? I can't keep calling you 'the Wraith'." He didn't look up.

The Wraith hissed in reply.

Lorne looked the Wraith in the eyes, "Okay, we'll continue the Steve and Bob line of naming you suckers and we'll call you Jim." He recalled reading of the other two Wraith in the reports Colonel Sheppard wrote up.

"Jim, how do you like our accommodations? It's the best we could do on short notice." Lorne pulled out a small tool and began crushing the garlic cloves, the smell radiated through the room, and into the cell. He offered one of the crushed cloves, "Hungry?"

Jim snarled back, repulsed.

"No, I suppose not. You're pretty full aren't you?" Lorne kept the bitterness from seeping into his voice.

"You cannot hide here without our detecting you forever."

Lorne set down the second bowl, keeping one peeled clove, and stood with his hand on his 9mil, "I'd like to think we can." He stepped up to the cell's bars, "I know you tried to sabotage the city. I need to know if you did anything else, and I need to know now."

"There will be others who will find you, as I did."

Lorne took a bite of the clove, right in front of Jim's face, who winced at the sight, "You do realize where you're standing, two others of your kind met their ends." He brought the clove closer to the bars as he chewed, the scent blowing into the cell from his breath, "You sure you don't want some?"

Jim barred his teeth.

The Major continued, "I also need to know how exactly you got onboard our ship."

"You will not get any information from me."

Lorne's reply was cut off by his radio activating. After a few moments of listening he responded, "Thank you, Sergeant." He turned from Jim and picked up the bowl with the whole and crushed garlic cloves. Pulling his 9mil he called back to the guard, "Open it."

"Sir?"

He repeated, "Open it."

The door to the cell opened and Lorne slid the bowl in, which stopped short of Jim's feet, the Wraith jumped back and hissed. Lorne backed out and the door was closed again, the shield shimmering blue. "Just in case you get hungry again."

Major Lorne holstered his weapon, picked up the bowl with the garlic skins, and headed to the exit.

McIntyre questioned quietly, "Heading out to meet Colonel Sheppard, sir?" All military had been informed of his return.

"Yes, glad they're all back too."

"Is there a reason you just chomped down on a clove of garlic?" The Captain began to wonder if the superior officer had lost one too many of his marbles or spent too much time around a certain flagship team.

Lorne let a grin spread on his face under the disgusted expression, "The sucker doesn't like it, and I really don't either." He left the room to find the newly arrived Colonel Sheppard and to track down a glass of water.

---

Colonel Sheppard had watched Carson and his team lift Rodney onto a wheeling stretcher and only half listened to the commands the doctor was spouting out, something about respirators, internal bleeding, shock... It only took one word, 'crashed' and Beckett had pointed to the three other members of the team and told them to make their own visit to the infirmary, but not in so many words.

It wasn't like they weren't going to follow anyway.

Before they even lowered the hatch to the sub, Copy-Rodney had retreated back into Ronon's mind and let the man be in command again, permanently as far as the copy was concerned. He didn't want to face Atlantis only for it to be taken away.

John was walking next to Teyla and Ronon after Carson and Rodney on the stretcher, no one saying a word. It had been a long day, and they didn't even get the chance to tell anyone about the copy of McKay currently residing in Ronon Dex.

* * *

**A/N:** Still not out of the woods yet… hope you liked the longest chapter so far. 


	13. Fading Away

**A/N:** Do you remember the genre of this? Take a look… angst, just reminding/warning you.

* * *

**Chapter 13**_-Fading Away_

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of the Gateroom. Confusion set in as he sat up, immediately noticing he was lying on an orange couch and that there was another facing it.

"You have got to be kidding me…"

"Umm, that would be a no."

Rodney looked to the foot of the couch and saw a man dressed in white linen with short, brown hair.

"You! But you're gone! What…this cannot be another one of the Colonel's pranks."

The man walked around the couch and sat down opposite Rodney, "Garin Trelio is gone, I'm just … a figment of your imagination, as is this dream, hallucination, or whatever since you're most likely unconscious, or in a coma."

"Why would I imagine a man who violated my life and almost killed me in the process?"

"I can only say what you already know."

"Then what's the point of this?" Rodney swung his legs around and planted them on the ground.

"Because you don't want to know, so I have to tell you."

"Well tell me why you look like _him_."

"He is the one who started this ten-thousand years ago." The Garin look-a-like smoothed out his pants.

"With the whole copying his own consciousness and his wife's?"

"Yep."

"Okay… so what else are you going to tell me?"

"You're afraid that if you don't survive, they will keep him."

"That is ridiculous, if they're that afraid why wouldn't they just make a new copy?"

"I'm only stating your fear."

"What the hell do you know about my fear?"

"A lot. I some from your mind, your history. Like how you dream of the people you know, they're not really them but what you perceive them to be."

Rodney crossed his arms, "I'm not going to die, so there's nothing to be afraid of."

"Optimism replaces fear to avoid dealing with that fear… interesting."

"Hey, don't go analyzing me… but you're me… so I'm analyzing myself… "

"Yea, pretty weird. I guess you shouldn't have taken those psych courses in undergrad."

"Or bio. Pretty much became a hypochondriac and diagnosed myself with several mental conditions." He rubbed his face, not wanting to be sitting there talking with Garin Trelio, even if it wasn't really him.

"There's also the fact that if you die, and it's before the team returns to Atlantis and before they can copy you again…"

"Then there's only him." Rodney buried his face in his hands and sighed. "But where would they put him?"

"There is the whole cloning technology thing that Garin Trelio was originally going to use, and that the Asgard do."

"To the detriment of their health as a species." Rodney scoffed.

"Which is why the Ancients stopped playing with it after the Garin incident."

Rodney sighed, "Why can't I have a fun delusion or dream? How about somewhere on a beach where it's warm and the sun is shining."

"Because you needed to face what I told you." He sat leisurely on the orange couch.

"My own mind thinks it knows better than I do… I'll tell you something Garin-wannabe! I know plenty about myself, why I'm like this, what I'm afraid of and I don't need you or anyone to point it out to me!" Rodney pointed and gestured wildly.

The other man put his hand on the arm of the couch, "Apparently you do."

"No I don't."

"Then maybe you just needed someone to talk to, instead of being alone."

"Again, I wouldn't pick Garin!"

"Again, he's the one who started all of this!"

"Can't you just go away?"

"Since I'm the embodiment of your unconscious mind, that's a little weird."

Rodney quipped, "This whole thing's a little weird."

"Maybe unconsciously you're worried he's not really gone." The look-a-like suggested.

"That's ludicrous."

"Dealing with issues by pushing them away…"

"No I don't."

"Yes, you do. The only thing that you let yourself truly talk to someone about was the whole invasion of Garin, and you didn't tell anyone everything."

"So what? They didn't need to know."

Rodney gasped, grabbed his chest, and he fell back into the back of the couch.

The Garin look-a-like felt it too, and gripped his. They stared at each other unable to breathe or speak.

They both had the same frightening thought, that this was it.

-

"Again!" Carson's voice flooded the infirmary's trauma room.

One of the nurses charged the paddles.

The paddles were applied to Rodney's chest, his dark blue uniform shirt had been hastily cut off, and Carson once again shocked his system, the whole room watching the monitors in hope. Elizabeth, John, Ronon, and Teyla watched through the doorway, Radek could hear the shouts from his infirmary bed.

Nothing happened except Rodney's body leaping up for a moment, Elizabeth held her hand over her mouth, John looked away, Teyla placed on a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder, and Ronon kept his eyes glued on the man lying there.

Carolyn, the head nurse of the medical contingent since the beginning, applied more gel to the paddles before Carson shocked Rodney's system again.

His chest seized up from the pulse, but there was still nothing on the monitors except the constant sound of a solid line. His eyes stayed stubbornly shut.

John turned his head back in disbelief. It really couldn't be happening, the head geek out for the count? There was no way he was gone… he sniffled to hold back the tears.

Elizabeth wiped a tear from her eye, feeling more behind that one. After all they had been through since they first arrived in the Pegasus Galaxy he couldn't die like this…

Carson stayed in doctor mode, shocking Rodney's systems for the eighth time. The monitor was still steady.

As soon as Carolyn grabbed his shoulder to stop him, it sunk in. But he kept it together as he looked at the clock, "Time of death, 16:27."

Elizabeth let out a cry but pulled it back in. She couldn't imagine Atlantis without him. Of all the times they thought he and his team was gone, that someone didn't make it, she never had to watch someone go. Everything happened somewhere else, Peter on the satellite, military during the siege somewhere in the city, people off world, but never directly in front of her eyes. John's heart had stopped after the Iratus bug and the stuck jumper fiasco, but he made it.

John felt as if he was about to collapse, Rodney was fine the night before. Hell, they got so plastered Radek had to save them before Elizabeth found out. No more bantering on their missions, no one to pull their collective asses out of the fire with some brilliant idea… Above all, he was losing a friend. A void grew in his heart.

Carson clenched his fist in anger that he couldn't bring him back. It was his job, his friend needed him. He was the only doctor Rodney would let touch him, and he let him down. Carson muttered with despair radiating from his voice, "Bloody hell!" He pounded Rodney's chest out of frustration.

The silence of the room was broken by the blip of the monitors.

Carson's face flooded with hope as his gaze turned to the monitors, "He's getting steady…" He checked Rodney's breathing and detected it there in the faintest sense, "He's back. Let's get him into surgery." He looked up at the group assembled at the door as they were wheeling Rodney into another room and nodded.

A collective sigh was released from the group and John broke the silence, "We should probably go sit down."

Elizabeth's voice was as subdued as John's had been, "You three need to be checked out."

"It can wait until we know more." Teyla felt like her heart had been ripped out, stomped on, sewed together, and heaved back in within those few minutes they all had watched Rodney on the stretcher. She knew they all needed a break without people prodding at them.

Ronon used his large arms to usher them into the regular infirmary, "We'll be fine for awhile."

-

Rodney gasped a breath in and rubbed his chest, "What the hell was that?"

"Like I would know." The other man took a deep breath and leaned back on his orange couch.

"Aren't you supposed to know everything?"

"Only what's already buried in your unconscious mind."

"Well that's stupid."

"What else would I be?"

Rodney stared at him.

"I am not the remnants of Garin Trelio! Alright? How can you even think that?"

Rodney stared at him again.

"Yes the computer somehow didn't delete the copy of you, but that doesn't mean it didn't get all of Garin out. It's been five months. He's gone, I'm not him!" He stood up.

"It seems I've uncovered another one of my fears." Rodney said with a teasing voice.

He sat back down, "Oh shut up."

"I'm the conscious me, so you shut up. The unconscious is always silent anyway."

"But I'm always here."

"So am I."

---

Elizabeth sat on an Ancient exam table, waiting for news from the operating room, hoping for the best but silently preparing herself for the worst she could think of, which didn't include a funeral.

John had been forced into scrubs by Dr. Kushnikov, the same went for Ronon. After a long and tension filled stare-down between the Runner and the Russian man that dominated the room even with Ronon in there, Ronon had conceded, chose red scrubs, and hopped into bed. John had opted for light blue scrubs.

Teyla got off lucky; Dr. Kushnikov only had her arm in a sling to alleviate pressure on her sprained and severely bruised shoulder. The deep purple was spreading down from the top to her arm and back.

John was ordered to take it easy and confined to his bed due to a fractured skull. They needed to keep an eye on him in case anything serious developed. Ronon's bed was to John's right, where he was also confined and his chest wrapped to guard the three broken ribs that had became dangerously close to damaging his lungs. They all knew Rodney hadn't been so lucky.

Though both men also had concussions, they and no one else thought too much of the three team members' injuries. They were thinking of Rodney.

Teyla sat in a chair next to John's bed, between him and Elizabeth's exam table. Radek chose to stay for a while though he had been released with Dr.'s Hong and Costello and parked himself in a chair on the other side of John's bed, by Ronon's.

It had only been a moment since all five had assembled. There had been a flurry of infirmary staff around the three returning from a mission-gone-wrong, and it made them all but impossible to talk to. After Dr. Kushnikov left and before anyone had a chance to discuss the issues of the day, Major Lorne walked in, took a brief glance around, instantly noticed the absence of Rodney, and deduced from the solemn faces where he was.

He avoided bringing it up, "Pardon me sir, but have you been informed of the Wraith saboteur?"

John's eyebrows raised as he looked at the man from his sitting-up position in the infirmary bed, the monitors keeping track of the beat he was sure his heart skipped, "No, I haven't. What's its status?"

"In the brig. McIntyre's team and I captured it. They're on guard."

Dr. Weir went into further detail, glad not to be on the subject of what was going on in that other room, "The Wraith manipulated the generators. They could have exploded."

Ronon gripped the edge of his bed, his head tilted towards her, "They won't now?"

She responded, "Dr.'s Stroh and Simpson are working on the last one."

"Just the one Wraith? They didn't send a Hive Ship?" John started to think of possibilities of what had transpired since they had left.

Lorne answered, "No. Sergeant Grimault did scans and didn't pick any others up. I have two teams doing sweeps as a precaution."

"Good work, Major. I like the city intact like this when I get back. Any intel on how it got here?"

"It transported itself from the Daedalus after trying to take it out. There's nothing on how it got there."

Ronon sniffed the air, catching a faint scent of something he couldn't place as John braced his arms and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, "I think it's time to have a chat with him."

Teyla looked at him, "Dr. Kushnikov has confined you to the infirmary. You would not want to cross such a man. I believe he shares Dr. Beckett's affinity for large needles."

"But…"

Elizabeth cut in, "Major Lorne can handle it." John suddenly looked like a puppy who just got scolded for chewing on his master's slippers.

"I could assist also."

Lorne nodded his head to Teyla, "That would be helpful." He gestured to the backroom, "Sergeant Stackhouse is in there. It got Pine and Elm, and Jones of White of the chemical and mechanical departments."

John and Ronon could both feel the anger being fed by more news about the Wraith. Sheppard moved his legs back onto the bed, "Was he stunned?"

"And fed on." At the Colonel's mixed expression of shock, worry, and an underlying hatred, Elizabeth continued, "Carson says it wasn't much, just a few seconds, but he's here the night for observation."

"Why would it stop?" Ronon searched their faces for a clue to what they were thinking, "It wouldn't be able to make him a Runner unless he had a transmitter he could transplant and get to the Gate." He rubbed his chest, from where his feeding scar was.

"It could have something to do with all the garlic he ate." Lorne stood at the foot of John's bed.

The Colonel's eyebrows rose again and his forehead rolled back, pushing his short hair with it, "A Wraith repelled by garlic? Is it me or are they getting more like Dracula?"

"Carson hasn't had much time to fully deal with the situation." Elizabeth's comment sent their minds off thinking about what the doctor was doing at the present moment.

Major Lorne took the opportunity in the lull of conversation, "Ms. Emmagan, are you ready?"

She nodded as she stood, "Yes."

Everyone said quick goodbyes and after the pair had left, Radek had a sudden realization and asked John and Ronon, "Who modified the engines to get away from the fissure? You had to or you wouldn't have gotten that far."

Copy-Rodney had all but slipped John's mind, even Ronon stopped thinking about him for the last few minutes after the information about Stackhouse had been revealed, he was reliving his own encounter with the feeding side of a Wraith's had in his mind.

John squirmed, "Rodney _did_…"

"But you told Carson he had been unconscious for a couple of hours." Elizabeth countered.

"Yes, but I didn't mean _that_ Rodney." He didn't know how he was going to explain this one…

"There's only one…" It hit both Elizabeth and Radek at the same time and he went on, "Oh no… we were afraid of that."

Dr. Weir looked directly at the Runner, "Ronon?"

"He's in here."

"I'm sure I don't have to tell you not to go into the storage rooms without a scientist who knows what they are doing." She didn't yell, but kept her voice even.

"I won't be."

"Good." Her head nodded to no one in particular.

"It's actually him? The duplication worked?" Zelenka pondered explanations for why the copy didn't delete and got transferred into the Satedan.

Ronon nodded, wishing it never happened but knowing it ended up saving them from a not-so-pleasant watery grave, "Yes."

"It's him alright. If he wasn't talking through Ronon, I wouldn't have known the difference."

Elizabeth couldn't believe it really happened. There was another Rodney McKay… "We need to decide what to do about the… duplicate."

"Before we do anything, I need to study Garin Trelio's computer. I did delete all stored consciousness data…but obviously not." He pushed up his glasses.

"Rodney did mention causing you some bodily harm once we got back."

Radek spoke solemnly, "Not for some time, Colonel."

"He'll be fine and you won't be left the science department to run, or joining my team, or both."

"Never happening. Off-world is scary place."

John shrugged in agreement, recalling all the times he was out there with some natives pointing sticks at them, and of course the Wraith.

Elizabeth addressed Zelenka, "Why don't you work on Trelio's computer, we'll call you with any news. I'm sure Ronon would like to be himself again soon."

John waved his hands, "Hold on, we can't just rip him out." He remembered the look Copy-Rodney had on Ronon's face during their last conversation, he didn't want to die…

"What else do you suggest? I don't see another viable solution."

"But it's not the same as before, he's a person, not just some data stored somewhere."

"The fact remains that he cannot stay where he is. You have not forgotten Elana Trelio and Dr. Heightmeyer? It cannot last, no matter how amiable the relationship is."

Radek built on Elizabeth's statement, "And the suppressant was not used. With the technology of Garin Trelio, it was necessary to have the downloaded consciousness become dominant and communicate with the other. Without it, we do not know how long they can stay this way. Lt. Cadman and Rodney barely had a few days without it, but that was with Wraith technology so we cannot know for certain."

Ronon asked the scientist, "They did not black out though."

Radek shifted in his chair, "It has to be the use of different technologies. More study is needed."

"What's the bottom line?"

Radek responded to Elizabeth with worry in his eyes, "The sooner we get duplicate Rodney out, the better."

Work on it, and we'll decide what to do with duplicate Rodney later."

Radek nodded and quickly left the infirmary, glancing at the operating room doors.

The group reduced to three, looked at each other, letting all the news sink in.

Colonel Sheppard broke the silence, "What would be so bad about two Rodney's?... never mind."

"We're on touchy ground with this situation, John."

The Colonel replied, "More than with Garin Trelio? And Elana?"

"Yes, very much. Garin purposely invaded Rodney and completely gained control while Elana was forced and worked it out with Kate in the end. This copy of Rodney exists simultaneously with ours, was an accident in the first place, and came to light with another accident. He is now a type of life-form that deserves no punishment as Garin Trelio did."

"You're not going to erase him from the computer?" Ronon questioned from his infirmary bed.

"I don't know if I could bring myself to, or order it."

John agreed, "It'd be like killing Rodney."

"What if McKay doesn't survive?"

Elizabeth was a little startled at the bluntness of his question but went on, "You're saying then we would still have him in a way. But in what body? We would need to find someone willing to share and take the suppressant… but that still isn't 100 percent effective. We've seen it before, one would die."

John perked his head up from where he had let it sink forward due to the pain at the back of his neck, "A clone."

---

The water ran red in the prep room sink, splashing quietly against the deep blue Ancient material that made up the sides. After the latex gloves were mostly rinsed of blood, Carson peeled them off and threw them forcefully in the biohazard container, on top of his operating gown that had seen cleaner days.

He brought his hands to his face, but remembered the powdery residue left over from the inside of the gloves and dispensed a bit of soap into his palm.

"Dr. Beckett?"

He turned his head around to see Carolyn, still in her surgery get up, minus the mask. She pulled off her cap and gown as she spoke, revealing her pink nursing scrubs, "Would you like for me to inform them?" She kept her voice low and compassionate, her dark brown hair tied low at the back of her head. She didn't mention how tired he looked.

"No, that's alright. I should." He turned back to the now-foaming soap and rubbed one hand over the other; aware of the sweat that was hidden under his own cap he didn't take off yet.

"Are you going to take a moment?" Carolyn moved to his right side to wash her own hands.

Carson didn't have to think about what she meant; he knew he must have looked terrible, "Not the spitting image of beauty at the present am I?" He kept rinsing his hands, not deeming them clean enough even though he had gloves on and no blood had ever gotten on his hands.

"Not exactly." She watched him take a deep breath, "Are you going to be okay?"

He rubbed his left temple, not caring that his hand was wet, "It's not every day one pronounces a close friend on your own table." His voice was just as quiet as hers had been.

"I can't say I've ever been through that." Nurses don't call out the time of death; they were the support of doctors.

"It's one of the dangers of being a surgeon in a close-knit community like this one." Carson finally decided his hands were clean enough and splashed some water on his face, reveling in the sensation and using it to wash away the sweat and dirt that had accumulated during the operation.

"You were good in there, doctor. Definitely here for a reason."

"Thank you, but it's not the type of thing I like to be doing."

She decided to shift the subject just a little so as not to be to noticeable, "Dr. Pinkston handled herself well too, especially for her first day."

"And first surgery in an operating room built by a race of aliens. I just wish it didn't have to be on Rodney."

Okay, so he wasn't going to let her deviate from the subject, "You both did your best. That's all anyone can do."

"Sometimes the best isn't quite good enough." Carson took a deep breath to collect himself as he stood by the door. He always hated this part.

He walked in the regular infirmary, without his white lab coat but the new standard issue dark grey shirt and pants. They had been protected from the messes of surgery by the operating gown.

The three remaining people instantly looked up, he was a little startled at seeing Colonel Sheppard and Ronon Dex in scrubs but expected it, and he saw their faces and knew the two words they wanted to hear, "He's alive."

After the moment of relief settled through them he continued, "We had a tough time with it. He had an incredibly low blood pressure and he was bleeding internally in the thoracic cavity. We've repaired his lungs as much as we could, but he's still going to be needing a respirator for awhile."

"But he'll be fine?" John was the only one to speak.

"You have to understand, Colonel, his brain went without oxygen for longer than I would have liked before surgery and again during. He's stable now, but until he wakes up, we simply don't know."

Elizabeth hopped off the exam table, "Can we see him?"

"For a few minutes." He saw John and Ronon start to get up, "Hold on you two."

"What?" John asked.

Carson picked up their charts from the ends of their beds and read them over as he said, "I want to make sure that Dr. Kushnikov has graciously allowed you to walk around."

Ronon and John looked at each other as Carson said, "And he hasn't."

John gave Carson his innocent puppy-dog eyes, "Oh, just for a minute."

"Colonel, from what I read here both of you need to rest and Ronon cannot go bouncing around with broken ribs of that severity."

Ronon bowed out of the fight, "Go ahead, Sheppard."

John stood out of his bed, aware of a slight bit of dizziness as Carson, who knew he wasn't going to be able to keep the Colonel down for long without a glimpse of the Chief Scientist, guided his IV stand. Elizabeth was pounced to help beside him, but John was determined not to lean on either one of them.

They were about out the door when Ronon called, "Dr. Beckett?"

Carson turned around and let John with Elizabeth helping him pass into the intensive care room, "Yes?"

"Is there a way to make me unconscious?"

Carson walked over to the man lying on the bed, "What heavens for?"

"I need to talk to him."

The doctor thought for a moment and offered another option, "I could make a batch of the mind-suppressant." That way Rodney could create a world for them to talk.

"How long would that take?"

"A few hours."

Ronon shook his head, "We might not have that long." He could feel himself getting weaker than when he came in.

"I'll see what I can do." Carson left the room to talk to Elizabeth and gather supplies.

* * *

**A/N:** I can honestly say this chapter has a part that was the hardest I have ever written… my heart cracked a little.

Might go to fifteen chapters… might be too much to wrap up in one more.

Reviews make me smile, thanks!


	14. Breathing

**A/N:** I just saw Season 2's Grace Under Pressure and I swear TPTB like to take walks through my head, first Duet and now this! I won't spoil anything though. No wonder it's feeling crowded in here.

Now that I've shocked the hell out of all of you with the last one, let's move on, shall we?

-- not beta-d --

* * *

**Chapter 14**_-Breathing_

"Did you just…"

"Yeah." The Garin look-a-like peered across the few feet that separated him from Rodney.

Rodney looked around the model of the Gateroom his mind conjured up, "Weird."

"Very. It was as if… time skipped."

Rodney knew exactly what the… man… was referring to. They had been in the middle of a conversation about if the rest of the team would keep Copy-Rodney somehow when the world slipped away, including them. But now they were back… "I'm dying. That's the only explanation. The other instance where it felt like my heart stopped and then this time-"

"The brain stopped."

"Lack of oxygen. Oh god…"

"But coming back both times would suggest there's someone helping."

"Carson? But then we'd be back in Atlantis." Hope flooded through Rodney.

"It's possible."

"I hope so. Damn I really don't want to die."

The manifestation of Rodney's subconscious ran his fingers through his hair, "And I would like to stop being thought of as Garin."

"I was not thinking-"

He was cut off, "Yes you were."

"See! That's exactly what I mean! He could do that!"

"Logically, since this is a type of dream, I, as your subconscious, could too."

Rodney took a moment and he asked quietly, "He's completely gone, right?"

"Yep."

"So… I'm just going to conjure up that beach and blondes now."

The Garin look-a-like smiled, "I like that idea."

---

Carson couldn't believe what was going on. Didn't he warn Peter and Radek not to make a copy of Rodney in the first place? And then they did, albeit without meaning to. Radek said he deleted the copy, but it turns out he didn't. And now he had the former one-and-only Rodney McKay lying in a coma in ICU and a Runner wanting to put into a coma. Add that to the Wraith victims and Stackhouse… speaking of Stackhouse… why exactly did the Wraith stop?

The young man never had been in that position before…

He's the only one know to survive it, other than Ronon.

Huh.

Carson formulated the beginnings of a theory as he walked over to Elizabeth and John who were peering down at a still Rodney. Elizabeth had forced John into a chair beside the bed in the small room. Rodney had a blood drip, IV drip, respirator, heart monitor, and electrodes for brainwave patterns, which thankfully he had. The room was empty except for them and Carolyn checking the monitors and drips.

Despite the way the Chief Scientist looked, he was physically going to be fine as far as Carson was concerned, whether or not it would still be him when he woke up was another question. He had stopped breathing on the table in surgery, and it scared the Chief Medical Doctor more than he would let on.

"Elizabeth?"

She turned to see him right next her. "Carson."

"Ronon wants me to put him into an induced coma to talk to Rodney…Two I guess you could call him."

John looked up at Elizabeth who looked back at him. John asked, "So Ronon told you about the copy?"

"No actually."

"Then how do you know?" John's head hurt from thinking.

"I have eyes and ears all around my infirmary, Colonel. Anything that happens within these walls, I know about." Carson winked at Carolyn who gave him a half smile back.

Elizabeth caught that signal and responded, "Oh is that right?" She wasn't surprised at all and half smiled herself.

John realized it also, "Having the nurses spying on us now?"

"If one of them happens to be sent out of the operating room for something and overhears a conversation they think I should know about, then it's not spying."

"You walk a fine line between doctor, spy, miracle worker, and dictator-with-a-needle, Doc." John quipped.

"How else would I know about your abundance of 'escape' attempts?"

"But there's never anyone around-" Crap, he just confessed to all those times he vehemently denied trying to leave.

Carson was amused, "Mmmhmm. I thought so. Back to Ronon now."

Elizabeth was looking at Carson, but out of the corner of her eye kept Rodney in sight, "I understand why he feels the need to talk to Rodney, but is such a drastic measure really necessary? Couldn't they switch off control and one of us can relay information?"

"Honestly, I'm worried about the toll that would take on his body. There are risks with an induced coma, but in my opinion they would be less than that. We don't have much time."

Elizabeth thought for a few moments and whispered, "Alright."

---

Lorne and Teyla walked briskly down to the secluded brig and passed the outside guard as the door to the room opened. Captain McIntyre and the other two men on his team were still standing guard.

Jim stood at the far end of the cell, his hands crossed behind his back and his long white hair falling on his back and shoulders, contrasting with his black coat but matching with the shade of his skin. He was breathing slowly, and in short breaths. The bowl of garlic was placed, or kicked, into the opposite corner.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lorne whispered to Teyla.

She nodded, keeping her eyes on the Wraith, "I must." She stepped close to the bars adjusting her sling as Jim noticed their presence and turned around. He saw Teyla and kept his position.

She took a deep breath and lowered her head. When it came up she stared at Jim, her face contorted with calm concentration.

"What are you doing?" Jim looked suspiciously and in a moment Lorne swore he saw fear come into the features on the Wraith's face.

"Stop human."

Teyla gave no reply.

"You will not gain anything from me!" Jim's voice raised in his cage of a cell.

Lorne laid his hand on his 9 mil while McIntyre and his team took the safeties off of their P90s. Teyla kept going.

Jim clutched his head and his breathing quickened as he fought her, trying to push her out.

Time ground by as Lorne watched the scene, a Wraith getting severely agitated by Teyla. It was odd though… he read the last Wraith forced her out… but she said on the way down there that she would be ready for it this time. He'd be lying if he said he didn't get a smirk on his face.

Jim released his head and looked straight into Teyla's fierce eyes as he walked to the bars. They were now only a few inches apart, the shield dividing them.

"I know who you are as much as you now know me, human." With a final thought he threw her out of his mind.

Teyla gasped as pain erupted from her brain and collapsed, her eyes closed.

"That is the price for overstepping your species' bounds." Jim grinned as his own eyes began to droop. That wasn't easy.

Lorne had dropped to Teyla's side to check her pulse as McIntyre called in for a medical team. He stood after Jim's comment, the flame that was burning in him after the death of Stackhouse's team was fed by this act of the Wraith, and he felt like he was going to explode.

"The others will know about Atlantis, and there will be nowhere to hide." Jim's breathing was labored.

Major Lorne drew his 9mil and called to the guard, "Open it." The door was quickly opened, and the shield shimmered. He spoke to Jim sternly, "If you ever do that again," he took aim and fired into his leg, "that will not be the last of your injuries."

Jim hissed when the bullet impacted him.

"How did you board the Daedalus?"

"You do not deserve to know."

Lorne kept his 9mil aimed at Jim, McIntyre behind his with the P90 as backup. He couldn't blame the Major for the shot, after all Sheppard laid more than a few into the last one that was in that same cell.

"Tell me now." Lorne kept his voice loud, and angry.

"Kill me. You will no matter if I tell you or not. I do know about the others that died in here, thanks to the little woman over there. Sheppard will pay." Jim had to talk slowly, it was becoming harder and harder to breathe.

"You're mistaken. If you know so much, you know he will make _you_ pay." Lorne backed out of the cell, it closing in front of him. Jim sunk to the ground, now lying on his side.

The med team rushed through the door and went to Teyla.

Jim passed out to the chagrin of Lorne, who knew that one shot in the leg wouldn't kill a Wraith. He noticed it was still bleeding, not healing. He mumbled, "Shit," for more than one reason.

---

Ronon laid still on the infirmary bed, effectively in a coma as Dr. Beckett looked on. Elizabeth went back to Rodney's side as he made John stay in his bed. The two heads of Atlantis had watched as Ronon slipped from consciousness, on his own accord. The Scottish man was thinking hard about Jim the Wraith (the rumor had already spread) and Stackhouse, a different Wraith and Ronon, and what he was shown by a blonde woman all those months ago…

Out of the corner of his eye he caught John getting out of his bed, "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"

John smirked and laid on his best puppy-dog look, "Just stretching my legs on my way to see Stackhouse."

"Dr. Kushnikov or I never said you could-" Carson paused, he should've know the Lt. Colonel would want to see the young man in addition to Rodney… and he should get something from the Sergeant too, "I'll take you if you sit and wait a moment. I need a few things."

Victory was his, "Alright but you don't need to pack, we're not going that far."

Carson chuckled in his head, "Hold on a moment, Colonel." He headed to the supply room and was back before John could even get out of bed. He noticed that the military officer was having a bit of a problem and offered to help, while really knowing that offering was a bit of a farce because he would have provided aid even if John wouldn't let him. The Lt. Colonel was weak, the hours on the sub took too much out of him more than he would say, but Dr. Beckett knew better.

---

"Hello."

Dr. Zelenka looked up to see Dr. Stroh in front of his desk. Next to him was Garin Trelio's computer. "Hi."

She eyed the Ancient's console, the cover pried off and lying on the floor, exposing the inner workings of the computer itself. "How is it progressing?"

"Well. I've ruled out any programming problems and moved on to the mechanical." He moved over and peered into the innards of the large object - the interlace pattern of clear crystals and long white cords crisscrossing from side to side.

"Are you feeling alright then?"

"Oh yes. Fine. Still a little tingly in some places though." He began to move wires and cords gently out of the way for a better view further into the console, "Everything went well with the repairs on the generators?"

"Yes. It was close with the last one, a few more minutes and the point-of-no-return would have passed." She cocked her head to see what he was doing as she moved closer.

"That would have been a big boom. We'd all be gone."

"Well things have certainly slowed a little."

"If you call me having to find what is wrong with this flabbergasted piece of machinery before Ronon or duplicate-Rodney die, then yes, it has slowed."

"Excuse me?"

Radek looked up at her and saw her confused face remembering that though she knew about the possibility of duplicate Rodney being downloaded into Ronon, she wouldn't know the rest, about the danger of letting them stay that way. He took a breath and proceeded to tell her.

Alexa would have felt the urge to laugh if there wasn't such an overlying danger to the situation, "What is going to be done with the duplicate?"

"We need to remove him from Ronon first. What happens after that hasn't been decided yet." He kept looking through the insides of the console for anything amiss.

"It is an odd situation. The only difference between the duplicate and our McKay is that the copy is missing a few months of memory."

"And has had a different experience from today." Radek zeroed in his focus on one particular wire…

"How exactly is a consciousness stored in the console?"

Radek responded while investigating the loose wire, "In a binary string of coding."

"Any way to read that coding?"

"Yes, there was a program installed that could essentially analyze the consciousness, pick it apart, separate sections." He peered closer into the console, "I think I found the problem."

Alexa's curiosity switched from one aspect to another, "What is it?"

"This cording was not attached fully."

"After thousands of years, I suppose something could jiggle out."

Radek had a flash of the memory when he and Peter Grodin were wheeling the console into the infirmary those five months ago… "More like a wall got in its way."

---

Ronon looked around once his eyes opened. He was a little dazed at first as he looked around the area, taking in the familiar surroundings. The mantle where a host of items rested, including several sizes and colors of candles and figurines. In the wall were what displayed like television screens stuck on one image of a person.

A large area rug covered the almost-black tiled floor in rich, earthy colors. The rest of the room contained deep brown furniture that was worn from years of use and extremely comfortable.

He was home, and was not alone.

He spied Rodney the same time the scientist saw him.

"McKay."

Rodney stood about six feet from the Satedan on the opposite side of the room, "Ronon… why are you here, and what is here? This isn't Atlantis, so it has to be your mind, but then you're here so you'd have to be in a coma, but then why isn't it all white… with trauma and two consciousnesses…"

"McKay."

"What? Oh, I was just uh… thinking out loud a bit there. You were going to say something?" He scanned the room with his eyes, the last thing he remembered was voluntarily giving control back to Ronon.

"I thought we needed to talk."

"About what? I'm sure Carson and Radek are about ready with that mad-man of an Ancient's computer right about now then I'll be out of your," He motioned to his head, "hair… head really."

"That's not what you want."

Rodney looked over at what he could only describe as a brown leather chair, "How would you know what I want, hmm? I've known you for a grand total of a few hours and most of that was spent _not_ talking to you."

"I know you don't want to die." Ronon watched as the scientist sat down in the chair.

Rodney scoffed, "You know nothing about me."

"Your survival instincts are almost as good as mine."

"Oh really? And how are yours?"

"I was hunted by the Wraith for seven years." Ronon shied his head away as he opted for his mother's small couch. He looked like a giant sitting in it.

Rodney's face fell, "Well then, yea, that's a … terrible."

"If there is one thing you don't want to do is be erased."

"What are my other options? I can't stay here. I'm a _copy_ … what does that make me? A person? I'm data from a hard drive."

"You think and talk as an independent person."

Rodney sunk into the back of the chair, "This is all very sweet of you, but unless you have another idea I don't see what the point of this conversation is. Just let me… go out with some dignity. I've had a _long_ past few days."

"There was talk of something called cloning."

A light sparked in his eyes, "Really? A new body…I'm assuming the Asgard would have something to do with it but uh, the other…original me can't be too thrilled about the idea of there being two of us. I'm sure as hell not."

Ronon spoke with reluctance in his voice, "He's not exactly… awake right now."

"What's wrong? He's dying isn't he?"

"Beckett said he's not but when he wakes he might not be the same."

"Fabulous, we have a brain damaged Rodney McKay and a Rodney McKay from five months ago. I swear this is way too Outer Limits for me."

"Outer limits?" Ronon's eyebrows rose questionally.

"It's a T.V. show that deals with scientific situations that get out of control and pretty mind blowing. I have all the DVD's to the original 60's series and the new ones too. You should watch it, expose you to some Earth culture."

"And this duplication of a person reminds you of this show?"

"One in particular, from the newer series. Not as good in my opinion which is worth, well, quite a lot actually. There was a couple who developed the technology similar to Trelio's. The husband scanned the wife and later on she ended up in an accident or something, in a coma. He was told she was going to die so he used the technical data and made a clone. But then his real wife woke up and naturally there couldn't be two of her and one of him."

"What did they do?"

Rodney shrugged in response, "Made a clone of him."

"A pleasant ending."

"Actually, yea I guess it was, but I couldn't ever live as 'the copy', the 'duplicate,' or the 'clone.' I just can't. There can be only one McKay."

"Another one of me would be…odd."

"To say the least. How long have you got until Carson wakes you up?"

"Forty-five minutes."

"I wonder how much time that really is to us."

"Either the same, a lot, or a little."

Rodney scoffed, "Thanks, a lot of help that was." He took a deep breath and continued solemnly, "Listen, I don't want to go through this again. Make sure they… that Zelenka actually does his job this time."

Ronon nodded and then the world disappeared.

* * *

**A/N:** We're trucking along here. As usual, leave me something, thanks! 


	15. Cleaning Up

**A/N:** So uh… been awhile, huh? I stashed this away as I had Final Exams. But, now it's break so here you go. The last chapter… wow.

* * *

**Chapter 15**_-Cleaning Up_

Dr. Rodney McKay is in a coma.

Teyla Emmagan is unconscious.

Specialist Ronon Dex had woken up from his medical-induced coma and told them all Duplicate Rodney's wishes.

Lt. Colonel John Sheppard is confined to the infirmary.

Sgt. Stackhouse survived a Wraith feeding.

And let's not forget that the said Wraith, Jim, was dead.

Carson could barely remember the morning, how calm and peaceful it was without an infirmary full of the leading Atlantis team. He patted Rodney's hand as he looked down on him. "You can wake up anytime now, we're all wondering what's going on in that head of yours."

Elizabeth rose from her chair at the bedside, "What I wouldn't give for one of his techno babble rants."

"Aye. So would I."

"Dr. Beckett?" He looked to the door to see the head nurse. "She's awake."

Elizabeth and Carson left Carolyn to sit with the scientist, and rushed to where John was standing beside one of two occupied infirmary beds. They walked into the middle of a conversation.

"I feel fine, Ronon." Teyla tried to assure the man as she sat up in pure white scrubs.

"You don't look like it." He spoke from his own bed beside hers.

Carson agreed silently. She looked as if she hadn't slept in about a month.

Elizabeth spoke sincerely, "Teyla, it's wonderful to see you awake," as she solemnly remarked to herself how Rodney would have a field day with seeing his team clothed in red, white, and blue scrubs.

"Colonel, I shouldn't be seeing you out of that bed."

"I was just-" John was stopped when Carson gave him a -Don't make me stick a needle in your bum to sedate you- look. His face morphed into a look that can only be found on a guilty puppy dog and he crawled back onto the bed.

Carson began to check Teyla over asking her the usual questions and when he was finished and announced that she would be alright, Elizabeth asked the question. "What did you see?"

Teyla swallowed and responded, "A ship."

John raised his eyebrows, "Hive ship?"

"Yes. But it is not on its way here. They are not aware of Atlantis's continued presence."

"Oh thank heavens." Carson sighed, "The Wraith was acting on his own then?"

"Yes. His mind was… a jumbled one but I sorted out that he is but an adolescent."

"Was." Elizabeth shifted her weight, "He died shortly after you passed out."

Teyla breathed deeply and immediately noticed that she could not sense him anymore, something she missed upon waking, "How?"

Carson resisted shrugging, "I'm still working on that one." And unknown to the others, he had a solid theory developing and needed three particular tests to come back before he was going to say anything, to anyone.

"Continue please."

Teyla nodded and followed Dr. Weir's request, "His dart was hidden amongst the wreckage above, what I can only assume was, Doranda."

Elizabeth had a flash, along with everyone else; of the planet that was part of the three-fifths of a particular solar system.

"He was on his way to investigate the Ancient Weapon on the planet when he detected a lone Jumper."

John ran his IV-linked hand through his still stubbornly short hair, "Rodney and I."

"Yes. Before the weapon exploded, he beamed aboard the Daedalus and has been there ever since."

"How'd he do that?" Ronon looked around in search of an answer. No Wraith he had ever encountered was able to transport themselves from inside their darts.

The others had equally confused expressions and John built upon the Satedan's question, "The Wraith do not have beaming technology like the Asgard. Unless he walked out into the middle of space and scooped himself up."

Teyla shook her head, "He was important, a son of a Hive Queen and he was readily becoming a leading scientist. His was the only dart to possess an altered version of the technology the Wraith use in cullings, so he was able to gain access to the Daedalus."

Elizabeth carried on the logical flow of the conversation. "And as a scientist, an Ancient outpost would be very interesting to him."

Ronon crossed his arms in his mostly lying down position, "Sounds like he would have been an asset for some intel."

The head of Atlantis turned to the Chief Medical Officer, "Carson, I want to know what killed him."

"Right." He began to walk to the medical research part of the infirmary but turned back to the two men in scrubs, "Not one move," and he was gone.

Ronon and John looked at each other and John shrugged. Ronon remarked, "Why does he assume I would want to leave?"

"Are you kidding?" John quipped, "You're associated with me."

"Oh." Ronon forgot about that little detail.

--- ---

"You can really do that?" It was only a few minutes later when Elizabeth had run into Radek and Alexa, literally, on her way to her office. The last remaining ten thousand year old plant was the casualty of the trio's collision. After dusting themselves off, calling a clean up crew, and wondering how that particular dead plant had managed to evade the eyes of the maintenance crew and Elizabeth herself for over a year, they secluded themselves in the office.

Radek nodded, "I believe so. It would be a matter of isolating the particular section."

"So you can actually blend Duplicate Rodney's memories of today into Rodney's?"

Radek shifted a little, "Without explaining it in too much technical detail… yes it is possible. Not easy, but possible."

"I saw the look in your eye when we talked about it, it is more than possible." Alexa resisted poking the man in his side for underplaying his intelligence.

"We won't be loosing him them. That eases my mind about this whole situation." With the rush of adrenaline long gone from her body upon the news of the survival of the original McKay, she felt like sleeping for exactly three months… make that four. But of course that thought passed in an instant, barely leaving a mark.

"As long as Duplicate-Rodney agrees to it." Alexa commented.

"Yes he… uh," Elizabeth paused, "Ronon told us he wishes to be erased once extracted."

Radek took a moment and replied, "That is possible now."

"You know why he wasn't before?"

"Yes. There was a problem with one of the internal connections."

"I assume you corrected it?"

"Yes." Radek was relieved as it seemed like he wasn't going to have to explain why there was a loose connection.

"Did it just become faulty over the years?" Elizabeth asked like she would with any problem.

Nope, he wasn't getting out of it.

Alexa could see Radek's discomfort and spoke before he could, "That would be the logical conclusion." That couldn't be classified as a lie… right?

Radek hid a smile, glad that one of the memories he had of Peter was going to stay locked away privately. He hadn't told Alexa exactly what happened, that he and Peter were having difficulty maneuvering the large console and rammed it into the doorway of the infirmary, but she got the most of it.

"Let's go discuss this." They headed to the infirmary.

---

"Dr. Beckett?" Carolyn rushed into the research lab with the results of three tests, ones that Carson's whole theory rested on.

"You have them?" Carson looked up from the microscope.

She nodded and handed them over. He quickly read over the one line summaries, all reading 'Positive.' He sunk down into a chair trying to beat back memories, but they flooded into his mind like water from a broken dam, threatening to break the barrier that was holding them from leaking out through his eyes.

"Are you alright?" Carolyn placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes…uh it's nothing."

She wisely left to give him time alone, sensing what was going on.

Memories of days spent on a distant planet in a galaxy far from his home on the Scottish shores were sloshing around and running into each other like waves on the rocks. He never thought he'd find someone quite like her, Perna, somewhere so foreign.

He helped to kill her along with thousands of her people.

Now that protein was staring him in the face from the reports.

"Bloody hell." He murmured alone in the lab, not once had he considered that he would ever find a living person, let alone two, that possessed the same protein that one Hoffan man did so many years earlier. One he helped to create a vaccine out of, and inadvertently a possible biological weapon.

He collected himself and activated his radio, "Elizabeth?"

It was a moment before she responded, _"Yes, Carson?"_

"I need to see you in my office. I found something you should know about."

"_I'm almost to the infirmary. Talk to you in minute."_ _She could hear something off in his voice but he hid it skillfully._

Carson rose from the chair and walked quickly, his white lab coat slightly billowing behind him. When he reached his office, he was surprised to see Radek and Dr. Stroh with Elizabeth. "What's this now?"

Alexa responded, "We have some news of our own."

"Go ahead." Carson was relieved to have at least a few moments until he had to delve vocally into the subject of the Hoffans.

Radek explained, "I've found a way to isolate the part of Duplicate Rodney's memories after he was copied, the only part that diverges from our Rodney, and blend them into Rodney's memories of the day."

"A part lives on." Carson nodded in agreement.

Elizabeth replied, "Exactly. We need both Rodneys permission first of course."

"Then you'll need to talk with Duplicate Rodney."

"Would it be safe?"

Carson thought a moment before answering Elizabeth, "A switch or two between control should be fine, but no more than that."

"That's all we need. You had some news?"

Carson looked at the two scientists out of the corner of his eye, "Aye, I'd like to tell you in private." He wasn't being mean, he just wanted as little people as possible see him in the state he was fighting back, and it wasn't as if anyone but Elizabeth needed to know right now.

Radek looked at his friend and knew something was happening and that he'd find out later if it was necessary, "We'll be going. Much work to do." Radek steered Alexa gently to the door after brief goodbyes and left Carson and Elizabeth alone in the office.

Carson sat down in his chair as Elizabeth followed and sat in one facing him. "What is it?" She kept her voice softened.

"Jim… the Wraith, was poisoned."

Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows, "By what? Not the garlic?"

"The garlic had nothing to do with it. It was the protein we first learned about on Hoff. Sgt. Stackhouse possesses it naturally, and I found massive traces of it in the Wraith's systems. That is why he was unable to feed on him and eventually died. All his organs shut down." Carson was surprised at how he was able to keep back his emotions so well now, after the initial shock of it. He realized the time here must have hardened him some.

"I suppose that confirms the possibility of it not only existing in the Pegasus Galaxy." She knew Carson must have been startled by coming into contact with the protein again, after what happened at Hoff, she had given him a few days off and they had a few talks.

"There's more. Ronon also has it."

"Really?" She thought and continued, "Do you think that's why he was chosen as a Runner?"

"I'd bet on it. He said the Wraith stopped feeding on him in a few seconds."

They sat in silence until she breached the touchy subject but it had to be addressed, "I know it would be difficult, but with a direct source of the protein, would it be possible to make a better inoculation?"

"Yes, but I'm going to keep focus on the retrovirus I'm working on."

She wasn't going to push, "Understandable."

Carson gripped the reports in his hand, "I should go tell Sgt. Stackhouse and Ronon, if you would come along we can ask Duplicate Rodney his wishes as well."

Elizabeth nodded, "Of course," and they left his office.

Xxx Xxx

Rodney breathed in the smell of the ocean and felt the sun beating down on his bare chest. "This is the life."

"Almost paradise." The manifestation of his subconscious was sprawled out on a lounge chair next to Rodney's, and wasn't exactly alone.

Rodney snapped his head around to look at him, "What do you mean almost?" He felt the touch of a woman's hands massaging his shoulders and couldn't imagine what could be better than the past few days, at least he thought it was days, spent on the beach with beautiful, dumb blondes in bikinis at his beckon call and ready and wil- never mind.

"Don't tell me you don't know." He pushed the woman clad in bright yellow away.

"Well I don't, and isn't it your job to tell me?" The blonde in a pink bikini kept working his fantasy-tanned shoulders.

The equally tanned and shirtless Garin look-a-like clad similarly as Rodney in swim trunks searched up and down the strip of beach, seeing nothing but imagined women in all colors of bikinis playing volleyball, Frisbee, running, bouncing…

"You were never and will never be the typical bachelor, McKay."

Rodney countered with, "I've always been a bachelor."

"How easily the consciousness forgets, but I never have."

"Stop being so cryptic, would you?" He snipped.

"Do I have to spell it out for you? There's a reason you haven't had a serious relationship, or relationship at all for that matter, in over a decade."

Rodney grinded his teeth with the sudden realization, "Shut up."

"You're sabotaged every feeble attempt you've made."

"Shut up."

"Because you didn't want anyone of those women, not really, not for the long run."

"Shut up!"

With the shout, the beach and blondes faded away to leave the two men in an old apartment.

The Garin look-a-like pressed on as he looked around at the surroundings, "So you do remember after all." They were standing in the middle of a smaller sized living room, just large enough for a couch, overstuffed recliner, coffee table, and a place for the television. Off to the left separated by a half-wall was the kitchen and behind the living room was the hall leading to two bedrooms and the bath.

Rodney shook his head, "No, I refuse to."

"You can't just forget years of your life, it doesn't work that way."

"It does because that time doesn't exist. It was a dream that didn't last." With a thought the apartment faded away to be replaced by Rodney's apartment in Colorado Springs.

"One of these days, you are going to have to remember."

"No I won't."

"Pain does not disappear without being faced, and you know that if I do."

Rodney snapped at the other man, "That part of my life is dead, literally or did _you_ forget that?"

"Some of it is dead, that it true. But the other-"

"Might as well be dead."

The Garin look-a-like sighed. Why did he have to be so stubborn? He sunk onto the couch and went on solemnly, "I can't do this anymore, not by myself. Every day you stuff more pain on top of this foundation, you bury it, and you bury me. There will be more death in the Pegasus Galaxy, you'll most likely lose more people, and one day it will all hit you like a train."

Rodney sat down next to his subconscious and spoke just as solemnly, "Thinking about death is not something I do well, and I don't see that changing. You pack it in, and move on to the next day, believing that they didn't die for nothing."

The other man nodded his head and perked up, "They're calling you. It's time to go."

"What?"

"You most likely won't remember any of this, but goodbye anyway. I'll be in touch."

"Funny, very funny." And with that, Rodney was gone from that reality.

His subconscious leaned back into the couch and changed the setting back to the old apartment. He thought _I'll never forget_ as he heard keys in the door.

-

The first thing he felt was _wrong_. His body didn't feel right, it felt weak and immovable. He knew he was on his back and had something draped over the lower half of his body, probably a blanket. Where was he though? … his mind was still cloudy having not been awake for so long.

He heard shuffling to the left of him and a soft sigh. It couldn't be, was he back?

"Liz'beth?"

The memories of the crash and of the subsequent events began to filter back in as he felt her take his hand.

"Yes, Rodney. Stay with me."

He followed her voice as she called on her radio and fluttered his eyes open to the soft light of the room. There were those ceiling tiles. The cursed ceiling tiles. But it seemed as if he was in a separate room… not the regular infirmary. Was he that bad?

"Rodney, you've been worrying us for awhile." She gently stroked his hand.

"How long?" He mumbled quietly.

"You've been back in Atlantis for five days."

The room came fully into focus as he looked around. Yep, it was definitely one of the private rooms in Carson's infirmary. There were all the machines, a couple of chairs for visitors, and a table with extra blankets…

"Rodney, do you remember what happened?"

Wait, when did Carson show up? Best to answer his question, "Of course."

Carson and Elizabeth smiled a little at the way Rodney snipped that answer. He was back.

"Well, lad, then what happened?" He began his checks, including looking at Rodney's pupils and he gave him some ice chips for dry mouth.

"Mission, sub, copy-me and Ronon, power failure, crash, more power failure…"

"Alright." Carson thought a moment, "Is 7,549 Prime or Not Prime?"

"Oh, please, Prime." Rodney sat up a little so he stayed fully awake.

"Just checking. This is the first time you've been awake for more than a second."

"How bad am I?" For some reason he had a bed feeling about it…he couldn't exactly remember the time he spent talking with is subconscious or the shock of not being able to speak and the moments that time-skipped in the reality, but the feeling remained.

"We had to repair damage to your lungs by broken ribs. There was more blood loss than was good for ya."

"Carson…"

Dr. Beckett knew he was avoiding a part of what happened, but he didn't want to shock Rodney in the first few minutes he had of full consciousness.

"Carson, I can tell there's more."

"Rodney, I don't think-"

He cut off Elizabeth before she could finish, a very rare occurrence, "I need to know."

Carson sighed, "Your heart gave me trouble before and during surgery."

"How much trouble?"

"It stopped, and I- I called it."

"You pronounced me _dead_? How long?"

"A few seconds."

"Oh man…" They heard the monitors pick up pace. "I died, I died... I was dead…."

"You're not the only one Rodney."

Rodney eyed the smirking man at the door dressed in his usual uniform, "Colonel? You don't look dead to me."

"Not anymore."

"Oh right, bug-on-the-neck thing. But you weren't legally dead. I was."

John took a step closer, "Everything is fine now. You're awake and alert."

The monitors returned to normal, "How's the… Copy-me?"

"He's back in the computer." Carson replied.

"He's just going to sit there?"

Elizabeth shifted her weight, "Well… we have this idea…"

"What idea?"

John answered, "To give you his memories from that day."

"What?"

Elizabeth explained their position, "We don't feel right just… deleting him."

"He's agreed to this?"

"Wouldn't you?" John countered.

Rodney sucked in a slow breath, "Yeah. Whatever. Whose idea was this?"

John shrugged, "Zelenka."

He scoffed, "I should've known. Trying to fix his mistake, hmm? You did tell him I plan on retribution, some serious, painful, retribution?"

"Yes, I did. He doesn't seem too worried."

"Then he's not as smart as I thought. Get him up here; I want to know exactly what I'm getting myself into."

Xxx Xxx

"Psst, McKay."

Rodney stirred from his half-asleep state to see John standing next to him with a wheelchair in the faded light of the infirmary sometime in the middle of the night, "What, Colonel?"

"Are you blind? It's a jailbreak. I figure after being awake for two days you might want a change of scenery."

"Oh, right." He swung his legs out to the side and John helped him into the chair, hooking the IV bag to the hook on the chair.

"Gotta love hospital wheelchairs. They have everything."

"Oh yea." Rodney picked up his feet and placed them on the little metal plates so his feet didn't drag on the ground. He grabbed the extra blanket from the foot of the bed. Scrubs weren't exactly warm.

They looked around cautiously at the darkened infirmary and John started to push. "You're the last one in here." Ronon had just been released earlier in that day, and Teyla had been released the day before with John.

"I'd rather not be. Bring me anything?" They spoke below a whisper as they were at the infirmary door.

Rodney felt something fall into his lap and looked at the bottle of beer and a chocolate bar. "Ooo!"

"Shh!" John looked down both sides of the hallway and with the coast clear, he pushed Rodney into the hall toward the transporter.

"Sorry, sorry." Rodney whispered.

They were two feet from the transporter when they heard a cough behind them. They froze.

"Going for a midnight stroll?"

John turned around and saw Carson, "Yep, doc."

"Did I authorize one?"

Rodney turned his head around, "Well, uh… you said get some rest and this seemed," He waved his hand in the air, "like rest."

"Yea, he's not doing the work, I am."

Carson crossed his arms across his pajama shirt, "Only if I come along to keep an eye him."

"Umm… sure." John replied, glad that they weren't being scolded. Once Carson got mad…phew.

The three men stepped in the transporter and came out near a balcony in what would have been a good fifteen minute walk from the infirmary. At this point, Carson noticed what Rodney was feebly trying to hide under his blanket. "What is that?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Carson snatched the bottle from where Rodney rested it on the side of the seat and raised his eyebrow at John, "Colonel?"

They now moved onto the balcony, the warm breeze blowing back their hair.

John smirked, "I have an extra one if you want, doc."

"I can't allow this." Carson clutched the bottle of beer.

"It's just one. Come on, you can't expect me to live on blue jello alone."

The doctor thought for a moment and handed it back to Rodney, "Slow sips, or you'll be paying for it in the morn."

Rodney took it and popped the top, "Yes, mom."

John took two more bottles out of his jacket, handed one to Carson, and sat down against the wall. "How'd you know we were… leaving?"

Carson sat down next to him, "You mean breaking out? Did you forget everything that happens in the infirmary reaches me?"

John eyed the doctor's button-up pajama shirt, matching light-blue pants, and the moccasin-style slippers, "Right. Your spy network."

Rodney snarked, "Spy? What are you, James Bond?"

"No, I'm a one-woman man… One-lieutenant man actually." Carson smiled as he opened his beer.

"Whoa, I so did not need to know anything about that." Rodney replied quickly.

"Stop being so daft."

The banter and talk continued through the warm night, and Rodney marveled at how Carson didn't suspect that he had something else hidden under his blanket. Or, if he did, he wasn't letting on. Either way, he had chocolate.

Xxx Xxx

"Will you let me do this?" Radek snipped at Rodney as he stood by Garin Trelio's console in the infirmary. Rodney had pulled his arm back rather quickly.

"I'm having some issues, give me a second." He snipped back.

Radek crossed his arms and looked down at McKay, "It will be fine. I've spent the last week and a half working on this, since you first came back to Atlantis."

"The last time you used that thing you copied me, so forgive me for my hesitation." Rodney rested his back on the tilted-up infirmary bed. He was due to be released, but they wanted to fuse the two Rodneys while he was still there, just in case.

"Are you having second thoughts?" Carson was on the other side of him, ready to act if anything happened.

Elizabeth looked on the scene, "You don't have to go through with this."

"I am." Rodney stretched his arm out to Radek, "Do it."

Radek made sure Rodney's arm was rested securely on top of the console and stepped back around so he could enter the instructions and read the monitor, "Here we go."

Rodney placed his hand on the panel and relaxed with his eyes closed.

Radek began typing and Carson kept one eye on the equipment he had attached to Rodney, including heart monitor, blood pressure, and EEG, while keeping the other on the scientists' appearance. All were normal.

Rodney could feel energy running up his arm and to his head, warming his skin on the way. It was a strange feeling but it didn't hurt. He twitched his head a little at a new memory – of waking in the backseat of the sub and looking at himself in the front… the feelings of shock and confusion followed. The rest of that day flooded into his mind, all the emotions of depression, anger, and resolution, all up through the talks with Ronon, and of the last one in the infirmary being told about the possibility of what was happening right then.

The feeling stopped.

"That's all." Radek announced as the program ended.

Rodney brought his arm back to his side and opened his eyes, "Huh."

"Rodney? Are you alright?" Carson asked.

"Yes, uh, that was just… interesting."

Elizabeth asked with a twinge of suspicion in her voice, "Did it work?"

"Completely. I remember two perspectives of the same day."

Carson was checking over the readouts from his machines, the EEG showed everything normal. "Looks like I can let you go."

Rodney's face lit up, "Really? I can just…" He motioned to the door, "Going now." He hopped out of bed, already in normal clothes – jeans and a deep green t-shirt since he wasn't on duty until the next day – and left the infirmary.

He needed to get out of there, he had spent way too much time memorizing the ceiling tiles again and watching the people go back and forth again.

He glided through the halls, thinking about how this time he didn't have to be wheeled out of the infirmary since both legs were as good as ever. His chest was still tight and he was warned to take it easy, but he was fine.

He turned the corner and came face to face with a certain German woman. "Dr. McKay, finally free I see."

He was startled and he absentmindedly touched his face where he had been slapped all that time ago, "Yes, not a day too soon."

Alexa looked behind him, "Have you seen Zelenka?"

"Yes, he's in the infirmary but should be moving Trelio's console back down to storage soon. What is it?"

"Oh, it's not work-related at all."

Rodney was a little confused, "No? Then uh… what?"

"I wanted to discuss dinner plans for tonight." She took a step to get around him, "For two." She smiled as she walked away, knowing she just caused him a little shock.

Rodney was speechless. When did he miss this? He was going to need to have a serious talk with his 2IC, was he going crazy? Radek and _Stroh_? That… _that_ woman? Didn't he know how… how... dangerous she is? How she slaps people? Well… him… and in some views he knew he did deserve it… but still. He wasn't going to pick up the pieces when Radek came to him with… red marks on his face for saying something stupid. Nope, not him.

Then again… Radek did deserve every microsecond of happiness able to be squeezed out of this place…

He kept walking to his quarters, not realizing that maybe, just maybe, he was a little jealous.

He thought the door open and stepped in. The two orange couches were still there, and now he really didn't care that they were orange. They were comfortable as hell and looked soo inviting. He plopped down on one of them and sighed.

It wasn't long until the door chimed.

Like usual, he thought it open.

"Hey, I heard you got out." John leaned against the doorframe.

"Yes, that's obvious. Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to come in?"

John sneered playfully and walked in, "I would have been at the… combining thing but I was training some of the younger troops. How'd that go?" He sat opposite Rodney.

"Well," He pointed to his head, "I have an extra set of memories from the last mission."

"Is that… weird at all?"

"Extremely, but I'll get used to it."

John propped his head up on the arm of the couch, "Did you talk to Ronon yet?"

"Yea, he was by in the infirmary a couple of times."

"You guys cool?"

"Sure."

"Really?"

"It's not something he wants to go through again, but uh… from what I now remember he took it in stride. The last talk the two of them had consisted of Ronon trying to… I guess you could say comfort Copy-me. Me. So if anything, this whole ordeal has been quite the team-bonding experience."

John nodded, "Teyla was amazing."

"I've thanked her for… well keeping me alive."

"She was really worried about you down there. So was I." John sat back and folded his hands.

"I don't plan on a repeat performance."

"Good, because watching you die wasn't a pleasing experience."

"Dying wasn't either."

"Tell me about it." There was a pause as the two men thought and John continued, "I've never told you, but do you know what Ford said to me before we found you after you and Trelio crashed the Jumper?"

Rodney cocked his head, "No…"

"He said he wanted to download Garin into a Wraith's head and shoot him. Then he fired at a target and hit it between the eyes."

"Really? Ford? Huh… wouldn't get that from his recent behavior of trying to kill me."

"He wasn't himself at the time. Enzyme and all."

"I know, I know." Rodney took a breath and wondered if he should take the chance… there were on the subject sort of… "I've never told you either… there was a point when Garin had control that… I… well… I didn't want it to go on. If I would have had… I saw myself in Copy-Me, and I remembered where I was, how I hid most of it."

"Oh man, have you told Heightmeyer?"

"No, just you. I thought I just… needed to unbury that I guess."

"You're past that point, past the pain of it."

Rodney snipped back, "Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something." He paused, "But it was odd, to not want to live, even for that moment? It's me - the spokesman for survival instincts."

"It was only for that little while. It's nothing to be ashamed of, especially under the circumstances and that now you feel like you normally do."

"Yep, life is good. Good to know that the city can survive Wraith sabotage without us."

"Yeah, there are good people here."

"Lorne might have a bit of a hero-complex, naming the Wraith Jim? After you named the other ones Steve and Bob?"

With a touch of defiance in his voice, but mostly light-hearted, John responded, "No he doesn't, he was just following the established protocol."

"I'm sure that's not standard."

"Okay, then _un_official protocol."

"I thought so." Rodney rubbed his chest, the bandage still attached. He looked down at the arm of the couch, "Hey, you never told me who helped you get these here, other than Hermiod. There had to be someone on Earth since you haven't been back there for while."

John grinned, "I'll never tell."

"Oh come on. That isn't fair!"

"I keep my secrets."

"Can't you give me a hint?"

"No."

"Just a-"

"No."

"But-"

"No, McKay."

Rodney glared at John, "Fine. One of these days, Colonel, one of these days."

"Just think of them as a gift."

"From what? The tooth-fairy?"

"No, from a friend with connections."

Rodney consented, "Be that way."

John moved the conversation on, "So, when are you going to be cleared for off-world?"

"Carson said in a week. I go back to work in the lab tomorrow."

"So no more Zelenka as defacto Chief Scientist?"

"Nope. He's been doing a good job though. Just don't tell him that."

John laughed, "He's been getting pretty cozy with Stroh."

"Yea…" Rodney shifted position on the couch.

John noticed. "What's your problem with her?"

Rodney crossed his arms, "I don't have a problem."

"I can tell. What is it? Did she stand you up once?"

"Worse. Slapped me."

John snorted, "When? What did you do?"

"At the SGC when we went back after the siege. And I didn't do anything." He kept his eyes off the Colonel.

"You had to do something."

Rodney mumbled, "I uh… insulted her work."

"Oh… that explains it."

The two men spent the rest of the day joking around about practically everything, glad that the ordeal at the bottom of the ocean was officially over.

Xxx Xxx

General Hank Landry looked up from his desk to see Chief Master Sergeant Harriman walk in, papers in hand.

"The mail, sir."

"Thanks, Walter." He took the stack, "Anything exciting?"

"Since when is mail exciting, sir?"

"You have a point."

After Walter left, Hank began opening the envelopes. Everything was the normal things, more paperwork to be filed, more requests to be transferred to the SGC from R&D and vice versa. But, one was different. He looked at the return address questionably and opened it. After making sure he was reading it right, he picked up the phone and punched in a long-distance phone number.

It was picked up quickly and General Landry responded, "Jack?... yes it's Hank… … too long… … What was that?... … I managed to pry the drawer open… just some things George left. I sent them to him… … No! Nothing like that."

Hank picked up the letter, "The reason I'm calling is that I received a bill… yes a bill … I have a feeling you can shed some light on it… why? Because it's from D.C. … … I don't know why I got a bill from D.C., why do you think I called you?... it's addressed to m- wait, no, It's addressed to you, sorry for opening it I just assumed… … from a custom furniture store… … two orange couches… … I said orange."

"Fifteen-hundred per couch… … Jack, I know you had something to do with this being sent here… … call it intuition… … This isn't payback for beating you in every game of chess we've played is it? … … Yes, getting a three-thousand dollar bill is very funny." The General tapped his fingers on his desk.

"I'll send it to you… … Alright… … If this happens again… … you're right, it won't… You do know with your dealing with… … I do too… … Bye." Hank hung up the phone with a smile and got back to work, the little diversion over with.

-

General O'Neill grinned to himself. It was always good to keep Hank on his toes. The commander of the SGC had to be at all times, and a break from the tedium was good once in awhile. He knew that.

He started whistling, eager to get word from Lt. Col. Sheppard the next time Atlantis dialed in. Man, did John owe him one. How did someone max out their credit cards when they were stationed at McMurdoh for crying out loud?

He had to admit, when he got the message from Sheppard about why he wanted to get back at McKay, he laughed so hard imagining the man bald his new staff thought he was having a fit. He was always one to help a fellow man in need, and being able to twist it to give Hank a laugh was just a benefit.

**FIN

* * *

**

**A/N:** That was it. I hope I wrapped up things sufficiently, but if you're wondering what the heck Rodney's subconscious was talking about, you'll find out in my next multi-chaptered story _Secrets from the Past_ (fififolle is helping with that one). I know I'm evil, I just couldn't resist, it seemed so natural to put that in. It will be a little awhile until that one is out though. Be patient. See you all then!

For the last time, click the little button down left. Thanks for sticking with me!


End file.
